This novel set in the late 1780s was a slow burner for me ! The first few chapters I was thinking it was one I’d not finish but as the story unfolded I found myself more and more engaged and the characters which were so well written pulled me into their story and left me thankful that I didn’t live at such a turbulent time.

The characters are Sofia and Lara who after leaving their home with their mother find employment in a wallpaper factory near Paris. Josef is the factory owner and Hortense is his wife and is privileged and demanding.

The story is told through the eyes of Lara and Sofi, both close as sisters but poles apart in looks and personality.

Lara becomes lady’s maid to Hortense and soon finds herself haunted by the images she sees in the wallpaper in her bedroom.

This powerful multi perspective novel gives the reader an insight into the French Revolution and how it related to the woman of the time. The historical details and graphic descriptions were first class as well as the twists and turns in the story.

A truly unique debut novel I will definitely read more from this author.

A gorgeously Gothic tale of the French Revolution.

"The Woman in the Wallpaper" opens in Paris, 1789. where a woman enters La Place de la Revolution, and is dazzled by the huge crowd gathered there. Executions are taking pace and she is forced to witness the beheadings. The reader is then transported back one year to Marseilles, and we enter a first-person narrative by Sofi, who is patiently trying to sketch the fishermen in the harbour. Her mother soon arrives though, and drags her and her sister home. When family circumstances change, both girls are told they need to get jobs, to help the family survive.

After a series of mis-adventures, the girls find themselves at the Oberst Factory, which makes fashionable wallpaper. They fall in with Josef, heir to the factory. And that's when things get interesting. They slowly uncover the secret behind the wallpaper, which always features oddly prophetic scenes, and a certain face.

Much of the story is told through the eyes of the sisters - Lara, politically aware, and Sofi, the artistic one, and is set against the background of the French Revolution. The book is over 500 pages long and spends a lot of time examining the role of women during the revolution. As we witness events through the girls' eyes, we realise how hard and horrific that time was, especially for women. As well as the sisters, we meet Josef, and his troubled wife, and his father, and all are fleshed out nicely so we are invested in their fates. Paris, Marseilles and other locations are lovingly described, with bustling markets, breezy harbours and noisy factories. The cast moves through many trials and tribulations, as the mystery behind the wallpaper unfolds, and there are several nicely spooky episodes. This is a gothic novel worthy of the name.

I was lucky to receive a Netgalley ARC, but will happily queue up for a proper copy when it is released in February 2025. Thoroughly recommended for fans of Anna Mazolla, Laura Purcell and Laura Shepherd-Robinson.

This was very atmospheric and vivid. I felt totally transported to Paris and the late 1780s.

Great to see this time focus on women and not men for a change!

The volume of detail did occasionally slow down the plot but overall and enjoyable read.

A deeply intense multi perspective novel that follows 3 women in 18th Century France.
Sofia and Lara are sisters but are very different both in looks and their outlook on life. Sofia is incensed by the actions of the aristocracy as she blames them for her Fathers death. Lara is a calming influence on her normally but when she becomes lady's maid to the insufferable Hortense, wife of factory owner Josef, she finds her loyalty divided.
And all the time Lara is haunted by the strange images she sees in the wallpaper in her room.
This is a powerful debut novel giving an insight into the French Revolution and the difference in the classes and the consequences of this.

This is an entertaining story set against the background of the French Revolution. Sofi and Lara are sisters in Marseilles whose father dies in a wagon accident and they subsequently find themselves working at a wallpaper factory outside Paris in around 1789. The story is narrated alternately by the two of them but also by Hortense, the spoiled daughter of some aristocratic nobles at Versailles.

The gulf between the rich and poor is emphasised, the sisters are always hungry and toy with revolutionary ideals while Hortense eats pastries and plays with her toy dog!

This contrast is marked but things change when Hortense is married to Josef, the son of the owner of the wallpaper factory, who seems to have a thing for one of the sisters. The plot is then additionally complicated by a room where the wallpaper designs have ghostly characteristics and there is also a secret passage, a friendly commoner called Guillaume (who also has a thing for one of the sisters), and a mysterious stranger while the burning of the Bastille and the introduction of the guillotine is lurking in the background.

The other problem is that the characters who tell the story are unreliable narrators and are often confused themselves about the significance of events. As a reader, if you can get past this and allow events to unfold as they are perceived it’s a lively story and revolutionary France in all its chaotic fervour is well described in, sometimes, bloodthirsty detail.

The story also has a slight tendency to caricature both nobility and peasants and wrapping it up involves some complications but that doesn’t detract from a plot that rolls along the highway with surprises at every intersection.

I really enjoyed this book - I am not overly familiar with this period in history, so it was good to read a book set in this era and learn about wider political and cultural changes. The plot is well thought out, gaining speed towards the middle. Characters I both liked and disliked, and others I was unsure about until close to the end. I would recommend this book and would look out for more by this author in the future.

This book is a fictional account of the lives of three young women during the French Revolution. The story begins in the south but moves a wallpaper factory near Paris where Sofi and Lara must find work after the sudden death of their father. The girls, never before apart, are separated when Lara is offered work inside the big house as a ladies maid for the new wife, Hortense, of master of the factory, Josef. The girls clash as Sofi becomes increasingly involved in the worker's uprising, her hot temper often getting the better of her. Lara, calmer and milder mannered, meanwhile has drawn the attention of Josef, who sees in her a marked resemblance to his mother, the woman who inspired the wallpaper.
The book draws on themes of a woman's place in the revolution, as well as the poverty and hardships faced by the poor when compared with decadence and distain of the wealthy, and there is an almost fantastical element as Lara finds her life is being reflected in the printed pictures on the wallpaper in her room.
As the revolution whips the French populace into a frenzy, a horrific case of mistaken identity leads to a tragic accident and is a testimony to the powerlessness of women.
I loved the attention to detail in this book and the historical details and I enjoyed that the story did not end when it might have and there was a further twist. A little slow in places or it would have been a five star review. I would definitely read more from this author.
With thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for an arc copy in return for an honest review.

This is not the type of book that I typically read however when I was offered the chance to read it, I thought why not and I am glad I did.

I am normally put off by lengthy novels but I raced through this brilliant story in just a couple of days. Well worth reading.

This was an interesting read. I can’t really decide if I enjoyed it or not. Whilst I found the events surrounding the French Revolution quite interesting I was unsure about certain aspects of the book such as the wallpaper scenes changing. Was this meant to be just in Lara’s imagination? I felt as if I was reading just to get to the end of the novel.

3.5 rounded up

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Vive la Révolution …From the fall of the Bastille to the executions, France will never be the same. In Paris, October 1793, the revolution is in full flow and Madame Guillotine is busy…. Backtrack to Marseilles in 1788, the year before it starts, where we meet Sofie Thibault who loves to draw much to her mother’s ire. Their life is hard especially when rent rises and the cost of food increases as a frightening scale. When her beloved father is killed, Sofie, her sister Lara and their mother make for Paris where employment is available at the Oberst factory and with the owners family. Here they manufacture wallpaper that every noble family seeks to hang in their chateaux. It’s a mysterious place and even more mysterious is that every print run is said to contain pictures of the late Madame Justine Oberst who dies in peculiar and suspicious circumstances.

Meanwhile at the Palace of Versailles, Hortense du Pommier lives a life of luxury compared to most although even Hortense can see the grandeur and splendour of the palace created by the Sun King Louis XIV is definitely waning. Hortense’s parents are desperately seeking a husband for her, perhaps that have found one in young Josef Oberst, son of the factory owner to whom the Thibault sisters have grown close. How will the worlds of aristocratic Hortense and the increasingly politically aware Sofie collide as the grip of the Ancien Regime breaks down? Fires are beginning to blaze throughout France as Sofie, Lara and Hortense tell their stories. How will they fare as revolution strikes?

I love the history of France especially these turbulent times and the premise of the novel is a fascinating one. The settings are excellent with the wallpaper factory providing real scope for the author to explore and build a good story around. It’s a good mixture of a gothic, ghostly story with the deepening mystery of Justine mixed with actual historical events over which the characters have no control, combined with their own actions some of which are despicable. There are moments of shock and tension when events spiral out of control and when secrets emerge.

The author depicts the descending chaos of France clearly and well with the suffering and poverty of those and the bottom of the system versus a life of haughty excess via the characters who are very well portrayed. The incendiary atmosphere and encroaching danger is tangible with the storytelling growing darker and darker, all infused with gothic elements.

There’s no doubt that this is a powerful debut which is well written but in my opinion it’s too long and the fine detail means that some of the strands of the storytelling which should pop in full technicolour get somewhat lost. I do enjoy it but with this reservation hence the 3.5 rating which I have rounded up.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Little Brown Book Group for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

This is a story based on the famous "toile du Juoy" wallpaper. A mother and her two daughters are forced to seek work in the wallpaper factory. They become involved witht he son of the owner and the mystery of how his mother died. There is some magical realism involved, and ghostly activity. The coming French Revolution begins to affect the lives of all of them, particularly Hortense, Josef's wife. This is a compelling read, maybe a bit over -dramatic in parts. There are shades of A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel!!

A beautifully written, heartbreaking debut, I couldn’t put this down. Set during the French Revolution, this is a story of sisterly love, betrayal and tragedy.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

I enjoy historical fiction, and haven't really explored any set during the French Revolution, so this was an interesting read for me. The characters were engaging and well rounded, and there was an immersive quality to the whole book. The reader gets a real sense of the difference between the aristocracy and the poor at this time. All enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review of the book.

I am sorry but i haven’t finished this book.
I am not really enjoying it and have become aware that I am making excuses not to read it.
I am just finding the story dull and am completely disengaged with the characters.
Not for me.

I am afraid I abandoned this novel as I just lost interest.

It is set in late 18th century France and tells of two teenage sisters, who contrast blonde and brunette. The other main contrast is between their poverty and the riches of the aristocracy. And we know what will shortly happen to them…

A plus was that the story was told by women but the men were depicted as stock characters a laudable Papa, a lovelorn Guillaume, an evil Baron…

It felt like a formulaic historical novel and I skipped to the ending. An easy read and am grateful for the proof supplied by NetGalley and the publishers.

I always love an historical novel especially one that weaves around true facts.
Lara and Sofia are two sisters giving in Marseille in the late 18th Century. Unfortunately following the death of their father they are forced to travel North to Jouy, where their aunt is the housekeeper to a wealthy wallpaper factory owner.
Both girls and their mother work in the factory and are given a cottage to live in on the estate.
However, the storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution cause a number of tragedies.
This is a story of struggles, love, sadness and mental illness which makes for a great book.

DNF at 25%. I tried this from 07/09/24 to 08/09/24. I feel bad not finishing this when I received an arc but I’m just really not enjoying this. It’s not to my taste and I don’t want to finish it and give it a middling rating. The writing is good and it’s easy to read. I also easily felt empathy for the two girls but I just didn’t love it.