THE AGE OF LIGHT
Model. Muse. Lover. Artist.
“I’d rather take a picture than be one,” Lee Miller declares, as she arrives in Paris one cool day in 1929. Lee has left behind her life in New York and a successful modelling career at Vogue to pursue her dream of becoming a photographer. She soon catches the eye of renowned Surrealist artist Man Ray and convinces him to hire her as his assistant. Man is an egotistical, charismatic force, and as Lee becomes both his muse and his protégé, they embark upon a passionate affair.
Lee and Man spend their days working closely in the studio and their nights at smoky cabarets, opium dens and wild parties. But as Lee begins to assert herself, and to create pioneering work of her own, Man’s jealousy spirals out of control, and leads to a betrayal that threatens to destroy them both…
Transporting us from bohemian Paris to the battlefields of WWII, The Age of Light is a powerful and intoxicating story about love, obsession and the personal price of ambition. In her immersive debut novel, Whitney Scharer brings a brilliant and revolutionary artist out of the shadow of a man’s legacy, and into the light.
Reviews and Praise
- Cosmopolitan: 28 most anticipated novels of 2019
- Elle.com: Ones To Watch: The New Writers We’re Excited To Read In 2019
“I adored The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer, which was every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped it would be. A stunning debut – fascinating, evocative and beautifully written. I loved it.”
―Jill Mansell, Sunday Times bestselling author of Three Amazing Things About You
“Rapturous and razor sharp all at once, The Age of Light fearlessly unzips anything we might know of Lee Miller as model and muse and recasts her as artist, free thinker and architect of a singular and unapologetic life. Whitney Scharer is a stunning new discovery. This novel sparks on every page.”
―Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin