Leonora in the Morning Light, I was looking for a deeper connection with the characters, but I never really felt Leonora's character, it was too cold and too naive for me.. and the drama felt off in the era of WW2

it is a good book, the idea of it, was what I was looking for so I won't discourage you to give this Leonora a try, and make your own conclusions, you will be swept away by all the amazing artist of the story.

I really enjoyed Leonora in the Morning Light by Michaela Carter. Carter is a talented writer who portrays Leonora Carrington with nuance and complexity. Given that her main characters were real people and the setting of the book based on real historical events, it is clear that Carter did a lot of detailed research. The combination of the historical setting and the emotions attached to war and fear created an interesting and fluid novel that introduced me to a world of surrealism that I previously knew very little about.

Leonora In the Morning Light by Michaela Carter was a wonderful, sensual, tormenting tale of the Surrealist artists Leonora Carrington and Max Ernst. Wonderfully depicted of the times and turbulent, passionate, creative spirits of the artists. Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. I hadn’t realized that Leonora Carrington was a real person until I did some research afterwards. I had known of some of the other artists mentioned and Max Ernst. But when Leonora became a bit crazy it was hard to know if it was the war, stress, fear or all of the above. I felt it odd and sad that Leonora’s father was ok with her being put into an asylum and fellow employees in that company would take care of that for him. I enjoyed reading this book but I didn’t like either of the main characters too much.

There is a lot of research done and you can tell by h ow it covers a lot of complex history. Such a beautiful historical fiction story. I found myself googling the different pieces to really learn about them.

This is a hard book for me to categorize. This is sexual, artsy, and emotional. I love that it is historical fiction. I enjoyed learning about Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington. The author takes the facts that were known about these two artists and gave them life within these pages. It felt like we knew the characters and how they must have really felt. It was very emotional reading about what seems to have been a mental breakdown for Leonora after things happen to Max. I enjoyed the characters and the emotions that showed up. I loved the descriptions of the art enough that I had to look up what many of the portraits described actually looked like. I received a copy of this book from Avid Reader Press for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

This was quite the novel - very well researched and lyrically written. I found myself getting lost in the writing so many times, the prose was so beautiful. I did not know anything about Leonora Carrington coming into this book and wow, was she just a force to be reckoned with. Although I am not the biggest fan of surrealism, it was very fascinating to read about that time and what the artists faced during the war and had to do in order to escape. Overall though, the book did feel a bit long and a bit too dreamy, but I enjoyed it. Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC.

I'm being generous with three stars. Parts of the book were enjoyable but for the most part I just felt confusion. The writing seemed to be all over the place, I heard it described as chaotic by another reviewer. At times I found it too wordy and it was a chore trying to figure out if something really happened, it was a dream or just a passing thought. There were a lot of characters and not being familiar with the art I spent a bit of time on the internet studying the pictures that were described. I don't want to say I didn't like the characters but they weren't exactly characters but real people. It is difficult to determine what really happened and what was part of the author's imagination. Truth is I didn't like any of them. I found Leonora to be selfish and irresponsible. She liked to be the center of attention and thought nothing of disrobing in the middle of a party when she saw Max flirting. She performed all kinds of outrageous acts, hair omelet comes to mind. Was she crazy or just trying to be different? Actually the whole group of them were like that, walking around naked and swapping partners on a whim all in the name of art. Probably this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for providing me with this book.

Leonora Carrington seems to be everywhere right now, and so I was curious to see what a fictionalized story of her life would entail. In this book, the scope is narrowly focused on her early years as an artist, her meeting with Max Ernst, and their relationship, to their escape from Nazi encroachment into their ideal life in the French countryside. The book flips between a few perspectives of some famous names, along with hers. We have Max's point of view as he struggles to escape the oncoming Nazi take over. We have Peggy Guggenheim who was instrumental in their fleeing to America. And we have Leonora herself.

The story is well written and provides a lot of insight into the tumultuous time of Europe as WW2 was breaking out, and the very complicated relationships in this very insular group of artists. While I was familiar with a bit of Ernst's story and knew about Peggy Guggenheim, it was Leonora I was here for, and while I liked the bit we saw, there is so much ahead in her life in Mexico that we never even touched on.

This was a nice tempting story that will keep me looking for more about her life and work.

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with a Netgally Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for a an honest review.

Thanks to Avid Reader Press for an advanced copy of Leonora in the Morning Light.

I had never heard of Leonora Carrington but this was a fascinating historical fiction. This is so different from many other WWII Historical fiction and I really enjoyed it.

The research and work the author put in to this were evident. It was a little slow in parts for me, but overall would recommend to anyone who likes a mix of art history and historical fiction.

I’m not well informed about Surrealism but the few artists I know of were all male. Accordingly, upon reading the description of Leonora in the Morning Light I was eager to read about a less well-known female Surrealist artist, Leonora Carrington. This historical fiction novel alternates between Leonora’s and Max’s perspectives, blending the story of their love affair with their art, while simultaneously introducing other Surrealists . . . artists, poets, and authors. Taking place primarily in France, the advent of WWII and the incursion of the Nazis into Paris significantly affects Leonora and Max’s relationship.

The novel is rather slow paced and I was often frustrated by the alternating narratives and the alternating timelines. I could tell that the point was to show how events in the late 1930s tied-in to their lives in the early 1940s but sometimes that just served to interrupt the action, leading me to jump ahead to read Max’s (or Leonora’s) chapters one after the other for greater continuity of action.

Despite the descriptions of Leonora's art provided in Leonora in the Morning Light, I didn’t really get a sense of Leonora’s artistic growth. It was only after I went online (https://surrealism.website/Leonora%20Carrington.html) to look at the pieces of her artwork that are named in the novel that I was able to see how her artistic abilities developed, starting with her Self-Portrait, the Horses of Lord Candlestick, the Meal of Lord Candlestick, and her Portrait of Max Ernst.

We mostly see Leonora through Max’s eyes; even in Leonora’s chapters, she evaluates her actions and thoughts by: what would Max think. It is not until the last chapter when she is in Mexico that she truly starts to think independently. Shortly before leaving for Mexico, she tells Max that it’s too late for them; Max replies “But I -- I finally found you.” Leonora’s response shows that she’s finally coming into her own: “Yes, you did . . . and so did I.”

I think that this is a case of the book was just not for me.
I have always loved historical fiction and non fiction and this was a first for me to not be able to finish it.
I hate having to DNF a book, but the writing did not connect for me, the characters, I felt nothing for and for me that is unusual. I wanted to stop reading very early in the book but continued to give it a chance, but just could not connect to it.

Thank you to #netgalley and #avidreaderpress for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
I thought the beginning dragged but then I started getting interested in this fictionalized tale of artist Leonora Carrington and other Surrealists. Most of the book was about Leonora and her relationship with Max Ernst during WWII and the years just before it. While the art and lifestyles of the Surrealists as portrayed here didn't appeal to me much (let's see outrageous we can be, just for the sake of being outrageous), I liked the look into the characters and their relationships: loyalties, animosities, and all. I also liked seeing how WWII affected the art community and how they coped or failed to cope.

Recommended for those interested in WWII historical fiction and Surrealists.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e-ARC of this book.

Leonora in the Morning Light is a slow burn. That being said, it was interesting seeing a WWII fiction through the eyes of artists instead of the typical POV that you see. The writing style, multiple point of views and different times lines made it easy to fall for the book and want to know what was coming next. It was evident the amount of research that went into creating this story based on real people.

I loved the writing style and the characters complexity! Everyone was morally grey and had so many complicated decisions to make where it felt like there was no right choice. It was nice to have a WWII historical fiction novel that’s about artists and especially some artists I didn’t know much about. It’s a nice change compared to the overused Jewish suffering/concentration camps as a plot premise we typically get in this subgenre (don’t get me wrong I will still read those but it was a nice change of pace).

I also enjoyed the alternating timelines and POVs, seeing the characters before, during, and after the war. I didn’t expect the turn the story took, so it was an interesting surprise! Leonora was more of an unreliable narrator type, but you know she’s unreliable so it makes it more confusing but kept it intriguing.

The supernatural elements sprinkled through the story were strange and seemed unnecessary. They didn’t seem to add anything to the story or characters development, in my opinion.

Overall it was an enjoyable and emotional read that I now need time to recover from!

I struggled to get into this book. I wanted to find it interesting as I'm a huge WW2 historical fiction fan, but I just couldn't. I found the story slow and because I wasn't enraptured enough my mind wandered away from the story.

This book tells the story of Leonora Carrington, and her relationship with Max Ernst and the surrealist art movement. Starting off in 1937, this is historical fiction meets the art world with some World War II (since it takes place in Europe). I learned so much about surrealist art and the ideas behind the movement. The best parts were about the main characters trying to flee the Nazis, since their art was banned by the Nazi leadership they were persona non grata in Nazi territory. So many of the characters were real people though the events are fictionalized (though historically based). The author made it clear at the end how much research she did. It was slow paced but the writing was soo good, and I really enjoyed this one. Plus it's historical fiction about a slightly unusual topic which I appreciated. I give it 4 stars.

In 1937, Leonora Carrington is a British socialite and painter dreaming of making a name for herself in Paris. She falls into the Surrealist circle when she meets leading artist Max Ernst, and she begins to make her art bigger and bolder than ever before. But when the Nazis label Surrealist art as degenerate, Max is imprisoned and arrested. Leonora in the Morning Light traces Leonora and Max's stories through the tumultuous Second World War, showing how art and love change our lives.

I love art history, and I am sad, but not surprised, that I'd never heard of Leonora Carrington. Art history is incredibly male-dominated, so I love when writers focus on women's stories in art. As Carter wrote in her author's note - Leonora is not the great man's woman in this story - she is the great woman.

I loved seeing Leonora grow up and mature in her life and art over the course of the novel. Her fight to be taken seriously was very powerful. Carter's writing style has a touch of surrealism to it - in certain scenes, you can't tell what exactly is happening due to the dreamlike quality, which fit well with the time period. I loved the references to real paintings by Carrington, Ernst, and others in the story.

I also appreciated that the WWII background of the story did not overshadow Leonora's main narrative of self-discovery. This is a wonderful novel that spans multiple genres, and art history and historical fiction fans should add this to their TBR!!

Thank you to Avid Reader Press/Simon and Schuster for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Review posted to Instagram and Goodreads on 4/6/21.

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Leonora Carrington hungers to abandon the trappings of her upper class future, seduced by the freedom of the surrealists, knowing she will disappoint her parent's expectations. Finishing schools and approved suitors be damned, she will have a bohemian life where every desire is explored, to hell with what others think! She longs to trust her gut, and her 'unconscious appetite' just like the surrealists. No one understands her quite as Max Ernst does, the German surrealist whose paintings have mesmerized her since she first set eye upon them. No lover can unleash the passion within her, make her simmer, soar quite like this older, wildly fascinating man, despite the 27 year age difference between them. After meeting at a dinner party, Leonora plunges into a scandalous love affair with the married man, despite her father's feelings, that he and his art are immoral.

It is with shock that their daughter, who will never be a well behaved woman as her station demands, informs her parents she is moving with Max to Paris, that he will leave his wife and become her lover. Her father cuts her off without another pence ever again, tells her she will die penniless and that her shadow shall never again darken his door! It's not marriage she wants, it is the experience of following her passions, the call of freedom and the warm embrace of Max. For a while, she will come alive under Ernst's penetrating gaze, learn about the many forms of love through his friends, and feel emotions stir inside her that incite fear and pleasure. No one will challenge her like Max, and she is just as intoxicating to him. What if he ever left? How could she go on? In his circle, people like Lee Miller, Man Ray, Andre Breton and lovers people share between them, such unconventional living is a fire in her blood. The company of freedom loving souls is an endless source to her artistic mind, a place she feels most like her real self unlike the stuffy world her parent's would trap her in. Even dreams have their nightmares, she hadn't accounted for Max's violently angry, deeply devout wife Marie-Berthe, who refuses to make escape easy for the pair. That is only the beginning of the obstacles fate will put in their path.

The beautiful paradise the lovers find when they settle into a home in Saint-Martin is marred by the horror of Max's arrest. Leonora carries on as best she can, working on her paintings and keeping hope alive, her heart warmed only by letters from Max. When he comes back, something has changed about him, deadened inside by being captive. Germany is invading, the world has gone mad and Max is taken a second time- this is where everything falls away. Leonora will be brought to her knees with the waiting, wasting into a shell of herself. Darkness and ugliness seem to be the only thing on the horizon, the Paris they knew is unrecognizable, everyone is fighting to get their visas, to flee to the safety of other countries. She is steadfast in her love, waiting always for Max, until she surrenders the freedoms she fiercely clings to, loses it all, including possibly her sanity when her father has her locked up in a Spanish asylum. Max, she knows, was on his way to an internment camp and now, could be anywhere. She has no way of knowing that he fled and was trying to return to her, his beloved. Salvation comes, but it isn't Max.

They both make choices influenced by the dangerous times and desperation that drive them further from each other's arms. Not all marriages are for love. Sometimes, fate takes the strongest of us all and leaves us fragile. Peggy Guggenheim helps artists, labeled degenerates and enemies, escape to America. Max is is dire need of her protection, but what is the cost for them both? When Max and Leonora are once again in each other's orbit, everything that has happened since they last saw one another has changed them both, maybe even their love. Who is she without Max? How will she ever learn where he ends and she begins, must they remain intertwined for all eternity? What about the others who are left cold by the glow of Max and Leonora's love? In truth love, just like man, is never an island. How can either of them make a life worth living? Max is free to experience whatever tickles his fancy, but often at the expense and pain of the women who love him. He may have helped Leonora tap into her artist's heart, but there was already a master within her soul waiting to be released. She will become a great artist in her own right, making thousands of works of art before her death, living to the ripe age of 94. Their love will be stretched as if on a torturer's rack before fate is through with them. For a time, they will carry each other in their hearts, but love- is it enough?

This isn't really Max Ernst's story, it's Leonora's, who in the end may be the wiser lover, despite her youth.
Perfect for art lovers and an engaging story about the resilience of one woman who would fight to live the way she wanted, unapologetically in a time it simply wasn't done.

Publication Date: May 1, 2021
Avid Reader Press

Leonora in the Morning Light made an art lover out of me. I was hooked on this story - it is crazy to believe that the characters in this book are real and lived these unique lifestyles. Ms. Carter’s writing was poetic and beautiful. While the characters personalities and actions might not sit well with everyone, they were each special and portrayed with gorgeous prose. If you love art, historical fiction and books based on real life people during WWII, you’ll love this unique read! 4.5 stars