Last week, I received an email from Mario Bergeron, a novelist and historian who lives in Quebec. To date, Bergeron has had six novels published in Canada - each of them was written and published in French. Bergeron wrote to tell me that his 1999 novel, Perles et Chapelet, contains a mention of Louise Brooks! (Here are links to the chapters.indigo or amazon.ca pages on this book.)
Perles et Chapelet is Bergeron's second novel. In his email, the author described the book this way. "My novel Perles & Chapelet is about the every day lives of two young women of the 1920's, in my home town of Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada). Jeanne is a French Canadian and a painter. Sweetie is from New York and works as a pianist in a movie theatre. The two girls loves the flapper life: rolled stockings, smoking in public, drinking, jazz music and the young female stars of the screen. They really admire Colleen Moore and decided to adopt her hair style (which is the same as Louise Brooks). As the years go by, Jeanne slowly falls in love with Sweetie. These feelings trouble her, and she begins to drink. Sweetie has noticed the feelings of Jeanne for her, though she prefers men. Sweetie returns to the USA, and Jeanne has troubles with alcohol and sadness.... In 1930, Jeanne gets a letter from Sweetie, who plays piano in a movie theatre in Paris, saying she regrets what she has done. She invites her to come to Paris, where artists live more freely than in North America, and perhaps there, she can accept her love."
In Perles et Chapelet, Louise Brooks is mentioned in a scene where a young man is flirting with Jeanne, saying things he hopes may attract her to him. The young man talks about his favorite movie stars, and mentions Joan Crawford, Nancy Carroll and Louise Brooks by name. According to the author, the book sold nicely when it was first released, and was well-received by women readers.
Has anybody out there in LBS land read this book?
Perles et Chapelet is Bergeron's second novel. In his email, the author described the book this way. "My novel Perles & Chapelet is about the every day lives of two young women of the 1920's, in my home town of Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada). Jeanne is a French Canadian and a painter. Sweetie is from New York and works as a pianist in a movie theatre. The two girls loves the flapper life: rolled stockings, smoking in public, drinking, jazz music and the young female stars of the screen. They really admire Colleen Moore and decided to adopt her hair style (which is the same as Louise Brooks). As the years go by, Jeanne slowly falls in love with Sweetie. These feelings trouble her, and she begins to drink. Sweetie has noticed the feelings of Jeanne for her, though she prefers men. Sweetie returns to the USA, and Jeanne has troubles with alcohol and sadness.... In 1930, Jeanne gets a letter from Sweetie, who plays piano in a movie theatre in Paris, saying she regrets what she has done. She invites her to come to Paris, where artists live more freely than in North America, and perhaps there, she can accept her love."
In Perles et Chapelet, Louise Brooks is mentioned in a scene where a young man is flirting with Jeanne, saying things he hopes may attract her to him. The young man talks about his favorite movie stars, and mentions Joan Crawford, Nancy Carroll and Louise Brooks by name. According to the author, the book sold nicely when it was first released, and was well-received by women readers.
Has anybody out there in LBS land read this book?
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