Customer Reviews

With Violets

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Once I started reading WITH VIOLETS I could not put it down. Elizabeth Robards fascinates with a look into "what may have been" a great love story between master artist Edouard Manet and Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot.

While Morisot was a woman ahead of her time, with artistic passion, and the spirit to join Monet, Renoir, Cezanne and others as part of the Impressionist movement, history hints that she & Manet may have been more than fellow artists. Manet painted no other subject as often as Morisot, who served as a model for fourteen Manet portraits.

WITH VIOLETS begins with an engaging encounter between the two at the Louvre, and quickly draws you into the complexities of their love affair in 19th century Paris. The story embraces so many family members and friends that you not only feel the passion between Edouard and Berthe, but also the emotions of those witness to the attempt to veil the deep love that they cannot deny each other.

Vibrant language paints a story of passionate love between a married man, and a woman who seems willing to chance everything to be with him. Was Edouard's wife truly the former mistress of his father, and his loveless marriage only for reasons of family honor? Can Berthe risk her place among fellow artists, and bring shame upon the family who has encouraged her to buck convention and be the artist that she was born to be? Add in the intricacies of family, war and the Impressionist movement, and every page is riveting.

So much history is weaved into the love story that I found myself wanting to know more about the artists, and now look at their paintings with questions about what the eyes of the model and the strokes of the artist are telling me. While WITH VIOLETS is beautifully written historical fiction, the romantic in me wants to believe that Elizabeth Robards may be sharing a love story that truly was.

In 1868 in the Louvre, Berthe Morisot practices painting by copying the masters. Usually she is accompanied by her sister and her mother, but today she is alone except for her friend Rosalie Riesener. Another friend, Monsieur Fantin joins the two young women and introduces them to renowned artist Edouard Manet. He flirts with Berthe and even changes her drawing slightly though she lectures him for doing so.

Berthe is attracted to Edouard, but is horrified to learn her new admirer is married to pianist Suzanne. The budding female artist also meets Edouard's brother Eugene; soon the siblings compete for the affection of Berthe. Will she choose the single brother, the famous married brother, or neither brother?

WITH VIOLETS is an intriguing work of fiction that provides insight into an interesting late nineteenth century artist (Berthe that is) and her relationships with the Manet brothers. Berthe is the focus of the story line as she seems attracted to Edouard but ultimately marry Eugene. Did she love Edouard or was that hero worship? Genre fans will gain a taste for Left Bank Paris during the impressionist period as Elizabeth Robards paints a delightful portrait of an impressionist artist ahead of her times.

Harriet Klausner

This was a good story, especially for those who like historical fiction and are getting tired of Tudor England. The author did the research on Belle-Epoque Paris and the Impressionists. The characters came to life for me. I learned some things about the artists, particularly Manet and Morisot, and the history of the period that I didn't know. But Harper-Collins--you should be mortified to send copy to print like this! Typos on almost every page, wrong words inserted, punctuation omitted. Dates transposed so we have 1896 when it should be 1869! My boss would put us through a meat grinder if we sent such a mess to the printer! You have no excuse for such sloppiness and you hurt the author's credibility along with your own! Hire some copy editors!

The cover of the paperback version of "With Violets" is bright and inviting with a white-dressed figure reclining off the edge of the page, holding violets in her hand. Something in the sharp-edged flowers or speckled grays on the dress is reminiscent of the era Robards is writing about, the time of the French impressionists, putting me in the right mood to read.

The book transports you to a very real depiction of Paris in the 1860s, introducing the reader to wonderful characters with complicated lives and loves, and inviting you to ponder fascinating mysteries of human relationships, history and art.

As evidence of how much I enjoyed the book, I found myself looking up the main character, Berthe Morisot, on the internet as soon as I finished reading. I found a painting by her of a woman in a white dress that matched the book's cover, and another painting, by Manet, of Morisot holding a bunch of violets. As I read the articles I felt like I was reading about real people who I'd already come to know through Robard's novel.

With Violets is written in the first person, giving it an immediacy that draws the reader quickly into the era. And Robards' language, right from the start, splashes the colors of impressionism onto the page. As Morisot becomes aware of Manet in the room behind her (on page 2), she describes "patterns of speech reverberating like a symphony of color... One timbre dark and rich as umber shadows. The other, vibrant as vermillion." It sounds completely natural in the context of a young woman with paintbrush in hand, and gives an immediate insight into the way the artist thinks and experiences the world.

Sometimes the switches in tense in the book startled me, but they soon became part of the flow -- a story told in vivid colors, unmixed, placed side by side like the paintings she describes. And just occasionally there were words or turns of phrase that seemed to miss the mark (but perhaps I'm too English). Touches of French, and French phrasing, are unobtrusively placed, and well-paced, giving background and flavor. And the world of Morisot and Manet is fleshed out beautifully with references to world events. I was fascinated to realize how little I had considered where the impressionists fitted into the timelines of revolution, war and politics.

At the end of the book, Avon gives a two-page "author insight," where Robards describes the awe and respect she holds for Morisot and Manet, which led her to sketch a love story of what might have been. I'd have to say, she's done a wonderful job, and I'll look forward to reading more by her. Meanwhile, if you're looking for more than your average romance, where relationships and the historical world are painted with breadth and depth, then I would certainly recommend you try "With Violets" by Elizabeth Robards.

As I read With Violets, I felt as though I were reading an early version, only partially edited. Some chapters were fine, but in others, the grammar was so bad that it interfered with the story. I actually wrote to the author and publisher asking if I got a defective copy. This might have been a good book if they waited until it was ready to be published. You'll be tempted to take a red pen to it and send it back. I can't understand why Harper Collins would have released it like this.

I absolutely loved With Violets. The writing is superb. I could not put the book down & even read aloud portions to my husband. I searched for other books by Elizabeth Robards & was disappointed to not find any.
Elizabeth, please write more!

This was a beautiful story of forbidden love. Berthe was an amazing woman. She was so brave to follow her own dreams and set a new ideal for women in society and arts. In a profesion that started being only a career for men she made people take notice of her serious devotion to her work. I'm so glad that Berthe did not give in to the expections of society. We have a lot to learn from her.

Berthe Morisot was an important French painter of the Impressionism School, although it's far more likely that readers will be familiar with her counterparts' names (Degas, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro) than Morisot's. In that way, "With Violets," a fictionalized account of the real life love affair between Morisot and painter Edouard Manet, may bring new fans to her work, and more attention to a woman painter whose life and work have remained out of the spotlight for too long.

The story opens when Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot meet while she is painting at the Louvre (copying the works of Old Masters, a common practice for studying the techniques of great painters). Each is smitten, but there is a problem. Monsieur Manet is already married. Nonetheless, the attraction between the two is sealed, and the book follows as both struggle against the passion they feel toward each other.

Along with way, readers are introduced to the life of Paris in the 1860s: social gatherings, artistic developments, and even political strife are all encapsulated within the love story between Manet and Morisot. Author Elizabeth Robards perfectly recreates the Parisian setting of this time period and helps her readers understand the birth of the Impressionism movement in painting, while never straying from the love story and the social constraints felt by Berthe Morisot, the daughter of a prominent family, whose interest in life (painting) makes her an outcast of sorts.

Even Morisot's closest relationship (with her sister Edma) will be tested by her choices in romance and art. Intertwined in the storytelling are descriptions of the settings and occasions for Morisot's most famous paintings, and readers will find themselves running to the bookshelf to seek out old art books with reproductions of Morisot's work. Here is her sister posing along a sea wall in a harbor town, there a field in the country. If nothing else, "With Violets" is the perfect excuse for readers to reacquaint themselves with the work of the Impressionists. Author Elizabeth Robards, for example, perfectly integrates into the love story a scene from perhaps the most famous art exhibition ever held (where Claude Monet so scandalously displayed his "Impression Sunrise" painting that gave name to their art movement), one in which Morisot`s work was shown.

"With Violets" is a book to be enjoyed on many levels. It's a brilliant debut novel about a real relationship in a very interesting time in history. Even if the reader knows little about art, the story is compelling. When adding the richness of Impressionism to the mix, the story presented becomes a masterpiece of its own.

An incredible book. Beautiful wordsmithing that immerses you more fully into the characters' painterly world. Love how the author takes real-life letters of the female French Impressionist painter--and the other tidbits of info available and paints in the missing parts to create a truly engrossing story. You've got shades of AS Byatt's Possession, with a relationship between two (now) well-known Impressionist painters, and a story in the vein of Girl with a Pearl Earring, with a softer side to it. Strong heroine, intriguing relationship. Fun to see how the author imagines the story and how much you learn about the two painters along the way. If you like to learn about history while you get a great story, this book's for you. I knew nothing about Berthe Morisot before reading this, and it intrigued me to read more. I hope this author writes more stories like this!

A great read! I bought this for a friend then had to buy my own copy. I really like this era of art and Ed Manet is one of my faves. I now own a couple of Morisot's artwork as well thanks to this book. It was a page turner!