A richly imagined and stunningly inventive literary masterpiece of love art and betrayal exploring the genesis of evil the unforeseen consequences of love and the ultimate unreliability of storytelling itself
Paris in the 1920s. It is a city of intoxicating ambition passion art and discontent where louche jazz venues like the Chameleon Club draw expats artists libertines and parvenus looking to indulge their true selves. It is at the Chameleon where the striking Lou Villars an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian finds refuge among the club's loyal denizens including the rising photographer Gabor Tsenyi the socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol and the caustic American writer Lionel Maine.
As the years pass their fortunes-and the world itself-evolve. Lou falls in love and finds success as a race car driver. Gabor builds his reputation with vivid and imaginative photographs including a haunting portrait of Lou and her lover which will resonate through all their lives. As the exuberant twenties give way to darker times Lou experiences another metamorphosis that will warp her earnest desire for love and approval into something far more sinister: collaboration with the Nazis.
Told in a kaleidoscope of voices Lovers at the Chameleon Club Paris 1932 evokes this incandescent city with brio humor and intimacy. A brilliant work of fiction and a mesmerizing read it is Francine Prose's finest novel yet.
