GIRL BRAIDING HER HAIR

Two women’s artistic ambitions converge across continents and centuries in this novel.

In present-day Philadelphia, Ellie Waldon has not been able to pull herself out of a slump after her husband’s death from cancer. The discovery that her boss has been passing off her work as his own is the last straw, and she quits her job. But before she storms out, her work as a brand manager introduces her to the oeuvre of pioneering 19th-century artist Suzanne Valadon. The narrative then pivots to Suzanne’s tumultuous life in Paris. Raised by an alcoholic single mother, Suzanne is expelled from convent school at 11 years old and hurtles between various jobs, always dreaming of becoming an artist. Molnar’s book proceeds to alternate between Ellie’s and Suzanne’s storylines. Ellie learns that most museums display only 2% to 4% of their art at a given time. With Suzanne as her inspiration, Ellie decides to found the Museum of Unseen Art to “display art that nobody sees because it’s stashed away in basements in musty drawers.” Ellie’s efforts to change her life are challenged by her older sister’s skepticism and the specter of the home she lived in with her husband, which she was forced to sell. In Paris, Suzanne eventually becomes an artist’s model, which gives her the opportunity to study painters and sculptors at work. She begins to understand “form, the way it’s born of light,” and uses her earnings to buy art supplies. Readers follow Suzanne’s encounters with famous artists of the time, including Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, and Degas, as she grasps at financial stability, creative satisfaction, and respectability. Fans of Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle (2021) will find much to enjoy in this meticulously researched novel’s braided narratives. Suzanne’s storyline is particularly enthralling, with its glamorous locations and references to historical figures and events. Ellie’s story suffers slightly by comparison, not only because Philadelphia is no Paris, but because Ellie’s plot is somewhat overstuffed with dialogue, unnecessary plot twists, and too many characters. Although Molnar has a gift for quick character studies (at one point, she describes Ellie’s unctuous former boss as looking “like a meerkat on guard duty”), the book’s modern-day sections would have benefited from a slower pace and deeper character development.

A pair of resilient heroes memorably explores creativity across the ages in this vibrant tale.