One of the Best Books of the Year: Parade , Glamour , Real Simple , Refinery29, Yahoo! Lifestyle Journey back to 1930's Paris with this " startlingly modern love story and a mesmerizing portrait of a woman's self-transformation from muse to artist" (Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere ), perfect for fans of the Netflix show Transatlantic and Beatriz Williams.** "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," Lee Miller declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. As they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever. Lee's journey of self-discovery takes took her from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from inventing radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to stay true to herself while also fulfilling her artistic ambitionand what she will have to sacrifice to do so.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Sports Illustrated For Kids

United States, United States of America

Boston ; Toronto, 2019

Source title: The Age of Light: A Novel

She went to Paris to start over, to make art instead of being made into it. A captivating debut novel by Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light tells the story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse. "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," she declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. But Man Ray turns out to be an egotistical, charismatic force, and as they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever. Lee's journey takes us from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from discovering radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to reconcile romantic desire with artistic ambition-and what she will have to sacrifice to do so. Told in interweaving timelines, this sensuous, richly detailed novel brings Lee Miller-a brilliant and pioneering artist-out of the shadows of a man's legacy and into the light

In 1929, Lee Miller went to Paris to start over, to make art instead of being made into it. She soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. As she works with him in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined. From the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to reconcile romantic desire with artistic ambition-- and what she will have to sacrifice to do so. -- adapted from jacket

2025-07-02