The Looking Glass - by Michèle Roberts (Paperback)

About the Book

An orphan, Genevieve lives an isolated existence as a maid in a village cafe on the Normandy coast in the early 20th century. Forced to flee the village, she comes under the spell of a spinner of words, a poet who captivates every woman around him.

Book Synopsis

An orphan enchanted by stories and the incantatory power of words, Genevieve lives an isolated existence as a maid to the widow Patin in a village cafe on the Normandy coast in the early 20th century. Forced to flee the village, she comes under the spell of a charismatic spinner of words, a poet who captivates every woman around him -- his mother, his mistress, his niece, his niece's governess, and eventually, his new maid, who soon begins to spin a story of her own.

Review Quotes

"To read The Looking Glass...is to experience a succession of pleasures." --The Washington Post Book World

"Erotic tension blooms in sensual prose....[Roberts] has a gift for making the ordinary extraordinary." --People

"[A] hypnotically sensuous new novel....[Its] assured, image-rich language...adds up to a palpable immediacy, an intimacy not usually associated with historical fiction." --Los Angeles Times

"The Looking Glass holds up a mirror to the dark sources of creativity at every stage of its carefully interlocked narrative....The gorgeous surfaces of the world, its earthy passions, lend the novel a sensual texture...that reflects desire, glimpsing the springs of creativity and the contours of a bygone age." --The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Half English and half French, Michèle Roberts is the author of eleven highly acclaimed novels, including The Looking Glass and Daughters of the House, which won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.