"You go from invisibility to transparency. First, you're hidden, then you become the symbol of an affair."

Margot has lived all her life knowing the circumstances of her birth - that her parents consisted of a mother, a well known, famous actress, and an important married politician who had a wife and two sons. Feeling that her mother had always regarded her with half interest, she always dreamed of the day that her father would make them into a true family. She idolizes him, is constantly seeking his approval in her accomplishments. That father is really the only male character of any note in the book, primary focus being on the women and their relationships and effects on one another's lives through their jealousies, machinations and affections.

With a nod to of Bonjour Tristesse, which plays a part in the story, Lemoine creates a believable narrator in Margot, but it is the depiction of auxiliary characters and the atmosphere of Parisian life that she really shines. The primary focus is on the women and their relationships. Every meal, every odor, every sight, every landmark and vista, all rendered beautifully. And what happens in Margot's world, the betrayals and revelations, all rendered in prose that make this a writer to watch.

At first glance, Margot seems like a typical teenage girl, filled with angst about everything, especially her mother. Margot lives in an up-scale part of Paris, close to the gardens of Luxembourg. She is an excellent student, anxious to get the best grades on exams to secure her place in a good university. Margot's best friend Juliette studies with her, and they usually hang out after school. Margot's mother, Anouk, is an actress who, when not rehearsing for a new play, teaches young actors. If Margot is not with Juliette, she often spends lonely evenings at home, alone.

What Margot wants most passionately is to spend time with her father, who is not married to Anouk. The absent father is the one Margot longs to see. He is kind to Margot, takes her out, and fills her life with the love she desperately needs. Margot doesn't think her mother loves her or even likes her. Margot wants to have a 'real' family similar to those she imagines everyone has but her.

When Margot divulges her situation to a journalist, her world slowly begins to implode. Lurid publicity for her father, the Minister of Culture, is not an unusual situation in the elite of Paris, but it takes a toll on all three. Serious repercussions for Anouk and Margot change their public and private lives.

This new novel does not read like a first novel. I was right there with Margot, hoping she would have some reprieve from the mistakes she made. I loved the narrative and the evolving relationship between mother and daughter. The Margot Affair is an impressive deep dive into the lives of women in today's Paris.

Thank you to the author, Hogarth Press, and NetGalley for this e-ARC (June 16, 2020).

The Margot Affair by Sanae Lemoine is an excellent literary fiction novel that packs so much into just one novel.

Margot is the main character. We as the reader get to see her circumstances, visions, interpretations, and viewpoints through her: a teenager. With her perceptions, we can follow along as she evolves, grows, and changes through her discoveries and mistakes. She is flawed, but she is fascinating. To see her filter and digest these decisions, revelations, and acceptances feels as if we are peeking into her soul.

Fundamental themes of: love, loss, acceptance, relationships, marriages, forgiveness, mistakes, a desire to belong, and coming of age are all at the heart of this book. What better subjects are there that we all can identify with at one level or another? Beautiful characters, descriptions, prose, and pace lend this novel the complexity that it deserves.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

"You think I’m a bad person, don’t you? Why are you always worried about being good or bad? Who taught you that? It’s a way of deferring responsibility for your actions."

This book is the story of Margot, who is the high school daughter of a somewhat famous actor, Anouk. Her dad is a local politician but he's also married to someone else and Anouk is his long-time lover. The story starts as a story about this family and Margot navigating her life in this more unusual set up.

"At Juliette’s, it felt as though my lungs were filled with more air, and the heaviness in my limbs would evaporate until I grew light enough to hover right above the ground, able to breathe at last."

Craving a different relationship both with her mom and her dad, for different reasons. Fascinated by the world. Going through fleeting moments of overconfidence and neediness as many teenagers tend to do. Leading up to her betrayal and the aftermath, I really enjoyed this part of the story.

"Sadness is a fleeting emotion, Anouk said, just as happiness is."

The second part of the story is mostly about Margot and an older couple she befriends and dives into female relationships a little bit but most of the characters in the story are only visible to the reader through Margot's eyes and her feelings and thoughts. I enjoyed the limited view this posed even where it was clear we were getting a filtered view of things.

"My role isn’t to explain everything to you. I can’t explain your father to you, and you can’t understand what it was like. A marriage is a closed world. Anyone who thinks they can explain it to an outsider is a fool."

There's so little that really happens in this story. It's mostly a character study, which is my favorite kind of novel especially when the writing is as visual and expressive as it is here. Even though it's not an uplifting story, I don't think it was depressing either. It felt like a slice of life, with some ups and some downs. As most of life is.

"What happened to daughters like us? Would we flee our families, wanting to be far away, wishing to carve out a life that was ours alone, far removed from where we came from? Or were we always destined to return? I wanted to absorb her into myself so I was never alone. I wasn’t afraid."

I really enjoyed my time with this book. I savored the writing and the characters. It definitely felt French, to me, but the themes, of course are so eternal: marriage, motherhood, belonging, secrecy and friendship. The stuff of life.

with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful and moving novel about female relationships: with our mothers, our mentors, our peers. Concise and sparse in style, I found this book to be completely enthralling. An excellent debut!

This author has real talent and writes beautifully. The book is relationship-focused and the characters are fully-formed. It has a French feel to it, if that makes sense. It is literary fiction so it's not filled with action, and contains some potential triggers for more sensitive readers. Recommended for literature fans.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

This is an impressive first effort by the writer, somewhat in the vein of Bonjour Tristesse (which it references).
The characters are well-formed and the narrative flows well -- I found it a quick absorbing read and especially enjoyed being transported to Paris.. The protagonist, Margot, provides a compelling first-person perspective of her experience as the secret daughter of a prominent politician living two lives, one in which he lives with his society wife and sons in one of Paris' toniest arrondissements and his less present life with his mistress, an actor/dancer and their daughter. The likability of many of the characters eludes us too frequently, which might be the novel's biggest flaw. It's easy to get in the head of a young woman who pines for more time with her important father versus the day to day life lived with her distant histrionic mother. But this seemingly intelligent insightful young woman screws the pooch, so to speak, and it all comes tumbling down. It can't just be explained by the folly of youth or her desire for normalcy. There's a crack in the character. If you've ever wondered about seemingly culturally sanctioned affairs in France a la Mitterand, you'll find yourself pulled in very easily.

Wow. That’s all I can say after finishing such a delicate and nuanced novel book early this morning. I have a couple of tears in my eyes which is a good thing, I enjoyed this book so much. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Hogarth Books for the ARC of The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine in exchange for an honest review.

The Margot Affair is about a seventeen year old girl who is the product of an affair between a French stage actress named Anouk Louve and a French professor turned politician named Bertrand Lapierre. Margot and her mother live a relatively hidden life without anyone knowing who Margot’s father is. At times, her father comes to them and shares the responsibility of taking care of Margot. However, Margot has always yearned for more from him with an idea that her family can truly be together since she believes that her father doesn’t truly love his wife, Madame Lapierre and their two sons.

Immediately we are transported into Margot’s world with her mother, her best friend Juliette, and her mother’s closest friends—Mathilde and Théo. As someone who was raised by a single mother with a father who moved on from the relationship and married someone else, I could relate to Margot’s longing for her father. I felt tender-hearted towards her. The first few chapters explain the complex relationship between Margot and Anouk who live more like roommates. Their relationship isn’t as affectionate and a lot of times Margot felt like an afterthought in her mother’s glamorous and dramatic life. Their world is rocked when an article exposes the fact that Bertrand has been living a secret life for twenty years.

I was gutted for Margot when things didn’t play out how she thought it would. Tragedy strikes which sends Margot’s life into even more of a spiral as she navigates complicated feelings and relationships. She meets two writers, a journalist named David and his wife, a ghostwriter named Brigitte who are much older but she creates a bond with them as her life with her mother and best friend becomes even more strained. Margot’s desperation to be part of something important is felt throughout the delicately woven prose. There are no quotation marks in this book but it is well written and allows us to become fully transported into Margot’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Margot does a lot of growing up throughout this book after experiencing tragedy, loss, grief, abandonment, and betrayal. It provides an interesting lens on the relationships between women, especially the relationship between parents and children. Another reviewer pointed out the voyeuristic aspect of this book and I agree. Margot is someone who prefers to stay hidden but she has such a sharp and mature view on the world around her. While she is wise and had to grow up fast, she still has an innocent hope in order to see the best in others. It’s naive but realistic and it makes me want to protect her with everything I have.

As a Francophile, I expected to enjoy this book. While written in English, it’s very French in terms of characterization and the narrative offered. Margot is unlike American teenagers and this book is unlike other teen narratives for an adult audience. I look forward to the release this summer and I recommend adding it to your summer reads.

Warnings: attempted suicide (character is talking about a past event), emotional abuse, slut-shaming, infidelity, and vivid sexual content. For American readers and others where the age of sexual consent is 18 years old, there is a sex between a minor and an adult.

Looking a the cover, you would assume that the book:

- take place in France
- feels like a 60's drama (think Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron, etc.)
- has a romance?


Only one of those things was correct. It took place in France.

While reading this book, I felt that I was not the proper audience. Finishing this book, I'm trying to figure out who exactly is the proper audience? You have a 17 year old girl, the daughter between a so-so actress of stage and a well-known politician. The politician has another life with his family (his wife and two sons), but can't bother to choose one over the other or bring the two together.

The daughter, after being somewhat snubbed on her birthday, decides to come clean - albeit anon - to a reporter and admit that her father has this other family.

I felt like this book was a bit... pretentious? It was trying to be something that it wasn't. The girl was a bit of a brat, and I found her completely unlikable (outside the situation that she had no choice in). I pretty much was strung along page after page of the author trying to milk this issue that comes about after her coming clean about her father's infidelity and I came to the conclusion: I don't care.

There is nothing moving, interesting, inspiring, or different. There should have been some type of scandal, or a cast of more interesting characters.

Oh, Margot! Such a perfectly flawed protagonist - I found myself invested in her from page 1, alternately cringing and cheering through her failures and successes. It made a perfect escapist read during these crazy times, I can't wait to share it.

This story unfolds through the eyes of 17 year old Margot. Her mother is a famous actor and her father is a rising politician. However, her father has a wife and children and she and her mother are his secret affair. Her father comes to see her sporadically. She wonders what it would be like if she had a full time father. As a young woman she does not always know who to trust. This book has a slower pace than most books. It is not action packed. It is the viewpoint of a young woman. It is really nice to sometimes read a book with a slower pace that delves into feelings and changes in someone's life. I did enjoy reading this book.

I received this ARC from Goodreads and St.Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating family drama that firmly kept my interest. The storyline was exceptional and the characters engaging and believable.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. From start finish to finish this was an extraordinary book!! You must read it you will love it like I did!

I initially liked the writing but gradually found it boring & NOTHING HAPPENED! I wound up skimming through to the end.

Yes!!! This was just the book I’ve been hoping for. Easy reading with so much to discuss in book group. Loved it.

Before I begin, I'd like to recommend that you queue up your favorite French composer to play as a soundtrack behind your reading of this book. I love Ravel, but you can pick whoever you'd like. Also, Sanaë Lemoine's website has recipes for the dishes talked about in the book! Whip up some clafoutis before you crack open this read!

The Margot Affair is a beautifully constructed debut novel from Sanaë Lemoine. Following Margot Louve, the opening chapters highlight the complicated relationship between a mother and daughter, which becomes even more nuanced with the added layer of a dark secret. Margot is the daughter, borne from a romance between her mother, an actress, and her father, a political figure of importance who happens to also be married to someone else.

As the narrative progresses, the writing focuses on the dynamic, emotional relationship between Margot and her parents. Her actress mother, Anouk, and largely absent father, a teacher turned politician. These chapters are full of descriptive language that pulls you into Margot's Paris apartment and paints a vivid picture of her delicate world. The reader is taken on a journey through her inner monologue, weaving through her desire to be closer to her mother and to feel wanted, her conflicting thoughts about her father's other family, and her absolute longing for a complete family unit filled with love and compassion. The reader can feel Margot's desperation as she describes her distant relationship with her mother, an actress who tends to stay in character, even when the play has concluded.

Throughout the narrative, the author returns to a familiar theme of space: how do we shape the space in which we exist and where is the center. This recurring motif inspires the reader to think critically about their space and how they exist inside of it. The author explores the incredibly nuanced question that many people deal with: is it better to tell the truth, or keep a secret.

I love the style choices in this book, particularly the lack of quotation marks. The pages blend into a seamless narrative of an extremely personal nature. I read this novel as if it were Margot's internal monologue. This nicely compliments the abundance of descriptive language, but does not burden the reader with explicit exposition. It is subtle, beautiful, and I could not put this book down.

This work does contain elements of emotional abuse, attempted suicide, and sexual content.

The Margot Affair is published by Hogarth and will be celebrating it's book birthday on June 16, 2020! This book NEEDS to be on your To Be Read list this summer!

Check out The Margot Affair on goodreads and Sanaë Lemoine's website.

3.5 stars:: Seventeen year old Margot wants nothing more than her to be recognized by her father, and to be recognized by his family. Their only moments together are fleeting and bittersweet, and even those are tinged with lies. Margot sees her chance and decides its time her father take responsibility, only to learn too late, her father had been there all along.

This is a beautifully written story; languid and elegant in its reserve. It might sound strange, but its spare yet detailed writing was like a feminized Hemingway. Strong, uncloying, and beautiful. Like a simple room of fine, well made furnishing and highlighted with only a single bloom. I felt as if I was reading someone's deeply sad, and honest diary. Ms. Lemoine's way with words pull at you, you feel Margot's want of the father who is never there, eclipsing the mother who is. While her own emotions and thoughts tear at her for these feelings.