REVIEW
5 Stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Natasha Lester’s novels are always well researched, complex and mesmerising: often filled with some form of art, fashion, romance, mystery and mayhem! Once again she embarks on a twisty unpredictable journey that transports us through time in The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard. We are off to a smashing start with three settings, three timelines and three points of view. Paris, 1917 (Mizza), New York, 1970 (Astrid) and the French countryside, present day (Blythe).
We eagerly follow three generations of women of the Bricard family who are caught in a vicious cycle of regret and rebirth. Overshadowed by the burdens of the past and their mothers before them. Creative women with amazing talent but who often compare and contrast their gifts. Women who have spunk, who are angry at the way men and society have treated them. Women who have fought some fierce battles with themselves and others. Desperate to assert their own identities, fiercely defiant to remain independent at some level—to have the freedom to be themselves and to break free of images that the media have created of them. Women who are struggling to find their way through a maze of expectations.
Fame can have an ugly control over those in the public’s domain and sometimes the desire to escape (or disappear) is completely understandable. Some, though, might say to be forgotten is a celebrity’s worse fear. But what if it is a necessity to heal from the wounds that have resulted from being in the limelight too often or for reasons that are wrong? What if the motive to disappear is to save someone you love from future pain? Difficult questions with complex answers. Natasha inspires us to explore the options and think about these hard choices and decisions through her characters.
There are some memorable lines in this novel such as a conversation Mizza had during her initial encounter with Russian émigré Lev Narishkine. She sees their connection immediately as ‘Two orphans adrift.’ Then on the same evening after discussing pedigrees, she makes a profound statement about her past, present and future. ‘In my mother’s house I left behind the person I would have become, like it was a dress I’d grown out of. Now I’m remaking myself. I’m a work in progress.’ When the war launches and then takes away her most precious gift, she pushes past her grief by fighting back and ‘feeling an impossible and despicable joy’ in being productive again. While the Nazis occupy Paris, she is determined to create ‘fearless hats for fearless women in a fearless city.’ Mizza was an influencer before it was a thing.’ If she wore a certain jewel or piece of clothing, everyone wanted to do the same. Why? Informative studies have shown there is psychological power in the types and styles of clothes we wear and how they can reveal and enhance identity.
Astrid’s story is an intriguing and very sad one. Her relationships are difficult. In a moment of spite or hurt, Astrid states she wants to be a designer so she can erase Mizza’s past. But the question presented to her by her famous mother of why does she want to be a designer—forces her to look at her motives. In doing so, she realises she wants to do it because she loves it. To create her art through clothes is her passion. The dress expresses what she feels ‘like the boy’s red strip of sea and a boy’s endless ocean’.
Astrid’s struggle with her beloved Hawk is the cruel fact the fashion world sees him as the master designer and her as his muse. But she must make sacrifices to ascend that perception. Will she succeed? As the novel expresses: women are at a disadvantage. They are not paid the same as men and women are often trapped behind men whose names are known. It’s a vicious unfair battle. And Astrid gets emotionally injured and runs to ‘the only things that do not hurt her—' clothes. It is also interesting and heartbreaking to see how Astrid and her friend get numerous rejections on their portfolios. The conclusions they come to? They are too good for these designers who are scared these two women might outshine them.
This constant struggle for recognition takes its toll. After her and Hawk’s child is born, she falls into what is known today as postpartum depression. Astrid sees herself as a woman who makes things and then makes them bleed. A certain dress becomes ‘a parable of her daughter’s future.’ She battles with anguish, self-doubt, the torment of always trying to prove herself in everything in a ‘man’s world.’ And Astrid disappears.
Blythe, the newest of the Bricards: daughter of designers Astrid and Hawk has a goal: ‘Taking something beautiful from the past and making it shine still more in the present.’ Utilising colour and excitement in the clothes to show the world that the women who will wear them are unafraid. Blythe, while far from being fearless, wants to ‘stand on the shoulders of both her grandmother and mother and make something still better than they were able to do.’ A tall ambition but in the process she learns much about her mother and grandmother. Will these revelations change or enhance her path? When she hears the Stones’ song ‘Woman in Silver’, thought to be about her mother, she decides she wants to reflect some of the same attitude it expresses for it is ‘about a woman who seeks out the extreme edges of life rather than the boring in between…’
The ending is possibly not the one expected due to the previous happenings of these women. But many readers will welcome the more positive outcome. For the rest? An alternate ending would have been fun to explore. Regardless, the threads meet, answers are provided and the next generation is able to move on hopefully wiser and more fulfilled. The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard by Natasha Lester is an impressive read that is in most part a tragedy but with a favourable conclusion. Recommended. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Hachette for my review copy.
