Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    With Violets
    Unavailable
    With Violets
    Unavailable
    With Violets
    Ebook340 pages4 hours

    With Violets

    By Elizabeth Robards

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Paris in the 1860s: a magnificent time of expression, where brilliant young artists rebel against the stodginess of the past to freely explore new styles of creating—and bold new ways of living.

    Passionate, beautiful, and utterly devoted to her art, Berthe Morisot is determined to be recognized as an important painter. But as a woman, she finds herself sometimes overlooked in favor of her male counterparts—Monet, Pissarro, Degas.

    And there is one great artist among them who captivates young Berthe like none other: the celebrated genius Édouard Manet. A mesmerizing, breathtaking rogue—a shameless roué, undeterred and irresistible—his life is a wildly overgrown garden of scandal. He becomes Berthe's mentor, her teacher...her lover, despite his curiously devoted marriage to his frumpy, unappealing wife, Suzanne, and his many rumored dalliances with his own models. For a headstrong young woman from a respectable family, an affair with such an intoxicating scoundrel can only spell heartbreak and ruin.

    But Berthe refuses to resign herself to the life of quiet submission that Society has dictated for her. Undiscouraged, she will create her own destiny...and confront life—and love—on her own terms.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061980916
    Unavailable
    With Violets
    Author

    Elizabeth Robards

    Award-winning author Elizabeth Robards formerly lived in France and has studied art and writing. She earned a degree in journalism only to realize reporting "just the facts" bored her silly. Much more content to report to her muse, Elizabeth has found Nirvana doing what she loves most—writing contemporary and historical women's fiction full time. She loves to travel—and when she can't, her imagination transports her all over the world.

    Related to With Violets

    Related ebooks

    Historical Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Glory In The Flower

      Jul 1, 2022

      Glory In The Flower
      6 min read

    • Article

      Big Sky thinking

      Feb 18, 2022

      Big Sky thinking
      4 min read

    • Article

      3 Bonnard

      Mar 19, 2021

      3 Bonnard
      5 min read

    • Article

      Sky Like a Raised Lid

      Aug 10, 2018

      Sky Like a Raised Lid
      7 min read

    • Article

      Ann Thomson ABSTRACT PAINTER

      Mar 7, 2024

      Ann Thomson ABSTRACT PAINTER
      9 min read

    • Article

      The New School

      Oct 1, 2021

      The New School
      6 min read

    • Article

      MASTERS At Work

      Dec 24, 2020

      MASTERS At Work
      8 min read

    • Article

      Painting Project

      Jan 21, 2022

      Painting Project
      4 min read

    • Article

      An Unsung Muse

      Jul 1, 2022

      An Unsung Muse
      6 min read

    • Article

      Art Nouveau Posters Surge

      Nov 26, 2019

      Art Nouveau Posters Surge
      2 min read

    • Article

      Triptych by Sonia Delaunay

      May 6, 2020

      Triptych by Sonia Delaunay
      1 min read

    • Article

      Violet Skies

      Nov 24, 2023

      Violet Skies
      4 min read

    • Article

      February

      Dec 24, 2021

      Raw Umber Studio tutor LYDIA CECIL has five ways to keep things fresh when painting direct Check the route before relying on your navigator. Use a transparent, quick-drying mid-tone like Raw or Burnt Umber to wash over the canvas, then map out your p

      3 min read

    • Article

      Jo Hopper, Woman in the Sun

      Feb 26, 2018

      Jo Hopper, Woman in the Sun
      10 min read

    • Article

      Ella in Maoriland

      Nov 10, 2022

      Ella in Maoriland
      9 min read

    • Article

      Walter Sickert

      Apr 14, 2022

      IF YOU GOOGLE the ‘50 most recognisable artists names’, the chances are Walter Sickert’s won’t be on there. What’s more, if you type his name into your web browser, you’ll instantly, and alarmingly, see him being linked to the infamous Jack the Rippe

      3 min read

    • Article

      My Story

      Apr 14, 2022

      My Story
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lacquer Luxury

      Mar 1, 2023

      Lacquer Luxury
      1 min read

    • Article

      Knives Out

      Apr 14, 2022

      Knives Out
      4 min read

    • Article

      Special Gift For Art Lover

      Oct 27, 2021

      Founded in 2014, Art Market magazine offers comprehensive coverage of the world of fine art and beyond. We bring you inside the global art world with more access and insight into auctions and art events worldwide. Inside each issue, we review, we pro

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Artful Life Of

      Mar 19, 2020

      The Artful Life Of
      3 min read

    • Article

      Interior VISIONS

      Mar 4, 2019

      Interior VISIONS
      3 min read

    Reviews for With Violets

    3/5

    27 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      It was historically incorrect and made Berthe out to be a swooning teenager, not an established artist. The friendship between Manet and Berthe is an interesting one, but was certainly not a raucous love affair as this story makes out. I look forward to reading a more faithful portrayal of Morisot and her role within the impressionist circle.
    • 3/5
      Unless you are a fan who enjoys romance with a blue tint, don't read this book. In my efforts to read historical fiction with an artistic bent, I made my way to this book. It is about Edouard Manet, and it's also about the birth of the Impressionist movement with Renoir, Degas, Claude Monet and others, There is a lot of angst, romance, and non-explicit sex in the book. It tells the story of Berthe Morisot who is a young woman who lives in Paris and who is trying to bring her artistic works to the forefront at the same time as all the great 19th century artists that lived and worked in and around Paris at that time. There are some true historical events mentioned in the book such as the four month 1871 Paris Commune revolution. It depicted quite clearly the effect of this socialist revolution on the ruling aristocratic class. It also depicted the birth of the Impressionist movement which was formed when a group of painters decided to go against the French establishment, who have been keeping a tight rein on the artists and paintings that are"acceptable" for their annual Salon. There was no room for any hotheaded disagreements with what the establishment was determining was acceptable artistic license and what wasn't. The story is about the love affair of the married Edouard Manet and his favourite model of the time who was the unmarried Berthe Morisot. I found the book to be very literate and lyrical. Ms. Robards has a way with words and her descriptions of places and people was excellent. I found the book to be overly melodramatic though. I thought that someone should give Berthe a kick in the butt for her mindless and unsound judgement in all her dealings with a totally unavailable and unacceptable man. She does finally pull whatever dignity she has left around herself, and she makes a final move away ,which removes her from Manet's orbit and his pursuit of her. The book was ok, but not as enjoyable for me as some of the other books I've read about famous artists and their paramours.
    • 3/5
      Paris....1860's The dawn of ImpressionismYoung Berthe Morisot is captivated by Edouard ManetHe becomes Berthe's mentor, teacher, lover.....
    • 2/5
      It was a pleasant beach read but not as great as I was hoping it would be. It promises a lot and sets up high goals with it's setting (around French Revolution) and with the great painters, like Monet, but it still seemed lacking. It had potential but wasn't my cup of tea. Also, there was almost too much French going on for a book written in English. It's as if the author was unsure the reader would remember where this story was taking place. It's labeled as "Women's Fiction" which I find insulting and yet appropriate.
    • 4/5
      The snow brought many delays here at Christmas and surprises for New Year—white roads and ice, layers of black and gray, and speckled flakes that flattened and broadened the scene beyond my window-pane.One of the surprises was Elizabeth Robards’ book With Violets, sent to me from the Fiction Readers group on Gather. The doorbell rang at seven in the evening, and I tore the parcel open eagerly. Inside, the book was bright and inviting with a white-dressed figure reclining off the edge of the cover, holding violets in her hand. Something in the sharp-edged flowers or speckled grays on the dress was reminiscent of the era Robards is writing about, the time of the French impressionists. It seemed appropriate to the blurred and snowy world outdoors as well.I settled down to lose myself in reading, and was transported to a very real depiction of Paris in the 1860s, introduced to wonderful characters with complicated lives and loves, and invited 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.
    • 3/5
      An imagining of how the rumoured relationship between Degas and Morisot unfolded. I wasn't really able to get swept up into their relationship. Maybe it’s because their connection was angst-filled, a bit periodic, and just somewhat doomed from the beginning with Manet being married. I did like the glimpses into the Impressionists/ anonymous cooperative society and glimpses into the connections between the artists though.
    • 4/5
      Pleasant historical fiction read. It's based loosely on the suspected affair Manet had with Berthe Morisot, who was an impressionist painter at the time. Berthe struggles with societial and familial expectations, but emerges as a strong, passionate, and independent woman. Interesting insight into friendships of painters at the time, Degas, Renoir, Monet, and also a little on the split from the Salon. Light romance.