![]() ![]() The characters gyrate weightlessly in a city of painted wallpapers and gilded furniture, glass conservatories, velvet curtains, mosaics and chandeliers. Whilst I can understand the desire not to set the novel in actual France, to avoid pedantic people like me picking holes, it does leave the novel strangely unmoored, with neither history nor politics to anchor it. We have no hint, however of French politics and history. Motor cars and photographic cameras have recently been invented. We are not, however, in Regency England, but somewhere reminiscent of France at the dawn of the 20 th Century. ![]() But now Hector is back, and he is still obsessed with Valerie. Ten years ago, Valerie threw Hector over to marry Nina’s wealthy cousin Gaétan, and Hector crossed the ocean to make his fortune in the continent of Iblevad. Valerie is a Beautiful One, and Nina will join her if she marries well. But in any case, Hector is madly in love with Valerie Beaulieu, Nina’s chaperone and sponsor into society. Hector meets Nina at a ball, and is unimpressed by her “square jaw, black hair and thin lips”. They are however prepared to be amused by entertainers such as Hector Auvray, a telekinetic stage magician. Aristocrats from old money, they despise the merely rich. The Beautiful Ones are the crème de la crème of Loisail society. ![]() The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ![]()
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