Girl Braiding Her Hair

Inspired by the True Story of a Revolutionary Female Artist History Forgot

De: Marta Molnar, Dana Marton

Narrado por: Leah Daniels

Her friends included Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir. Paris celebrated her as a sought-after model, until she picked up the brush herself, at a time when art schools refused to accept female students. By the time Suzanne Valadon was 15 years old, shed been a horse walker, a milliner, a funeral wreath maker, and a circus acrobat, but that was just the beginning of her adventures. Here is her story, along with Ellie's, a modern woman a century later at a crossroads of her life, who pulls Suzanne from the shadows of the past into the light.

A brand-new novel from the author of the bestselling novel of THE SECRET LIFE OF SUNFLOWERS.

The perfect Book Club listen!

©2023 Marta Dana (P)2024 Marta Dana

Narrator and Book Review

The narration of the book was phenomenal and it was a great book as well. Loved the story!

Paris art scene

The narration could have used more speakers. The characters were hard to desern form each other, especially towards the end.

Some Paintings Should be Seen

Enjoyed the novel and both story lines. The reader, however, reminded me Prank Call voices.

Another wonderful introduction of a woman mostly lost to history.

Suzanne Valadon was a force of nature! Thanks for introducing another woman who was fighting to break down barriers for all women. Sorry to say that the narrator's pronunciation, over-diction at some points, and particularly her voiced sound effects were disruptive to my enjoyment.

Great story - sub-par narration

While I truly enjoyed the stories told in this book, I found that the narration presented a huge distraction. Some vocal characterizations were indistinguishable; some pronunciation was questionable and conversation rhythms were dissonant. But the telling of the parallel stories of Ellie and Susanne were interesting and well aligned. I lived all references to the many artists mentioned and was quick to look up many of them and their art!

I really,really liked this book

I am picky about the books I listen to. I thought this book was well written and the stories intertwined beautifully. I loved the narrator. If I could picture myself floating down a lazy river being very contented, that’s exactly how I felt listening to this book. I also learned something new as I previously knew nothing about this artist. Well done!!

Stark difference in stories

I loved the story of the artist, every word of it. The modern day story had its charm but also seemed written by a lesser artist. The onomatopoeia scratch scratch etc was annoying, and the plot predictable. Well worth reading the book for the deep, plot rich and masterful story of Susan Valladone. I look forward to your next historical novel. Peerhaps the story of Maurice. Maybe told from his perspective interspersed with his family’s thought about him. A rich narrative about grandmother would be fantastic. One final thought, maybe use only one voice be it man woman or child speaking. I loved when Valladone expressed regarding prejudice against people of color, What? In 1894? I feel that way about 2024!

Unseen art!

Learning about Suzanne, who I had not heard of, and how it was to be a model and how she used it to learn how to paint from the masters! Smart girl! The other story was okay, but I knew of all the unseen art in basements of art galleries! I love the concept of unseen art! Thank you!

History and current day story

I love reading about little known women in history. I don’t know much about art and this book inspired me to look up Suzanne’s work.

Love art and loved this story

Liked the side by side stories and the strong women in both. Made me want to visit Paris and Philadelphia