Gabriele

From Anne Berest, author of the bestseller The Postcard, alongside her sister Claire Berest, comes a fascinating historical novel that blends biography into fiction to evoke the life of their revolutionary great grandmother, Gabriële Buffet-Picabia. Claire and Anne, both talented writers who have published individually, have come together to breathe life into the story of someone they saw as a forgotten figure in both their family history and art history. Translated from the French by Tina Kover, this novel explores Gabriële Buffet’s life in the early 20th century European art scene, from brilliant beginnings as a composer, to her marriage with Francis Picabia and then her love affair with Marcel Duchamp. At the passionate heart of the novel are the intense, intellectual relationships formed between friends and lovers, which gave birth to new artistic forms such as abstraction, dadaism and surrealism.

More than just the Berests’ clever and evocative writing, quick, short sentences and immaculate attention to detail, I loved the interplay of historical research with imagination in the novel. The choice to write this as fiction, as opposed to a biography, allows the authors to do fascinating things with the writing, to take creative leaps, and to immerse you in Gabriële’s life. The authors write themselves into the novel as the narrators, interjecting at various points, guiding the story, providing family context in a way that feels like they are fellow readers joining you as the story unfolds. They cleverly weave in quotes from other sources, drawing in the voice of Gabriële and her associates, without interrupting the musicality of the writing.

Above all, this novel had me hooked from the first chapter. For lovers of music and art history, of historical fiction and biography, for those of you who enjoyed The Postcard, and for anyone interested in the unique construction of what is being termed a ‘true novel’, I highly recommend this beautiful book.