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Elegance
is about finding your own ways to be happy, stylish, grown-up, and
in love ... but mostly it is about how to learn to love yourself.
| Elegance |
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Elegance
tells the story of Louise, whose marriage is faltering and
who has lost her way in life when she stumbles over a faded
volume called Elegance in a second-hand book shop. The book,
written by a Frenchwoman in to sixties, is an A-Z of how to
be elegant and stylish. From this unlikely manual, Louise
find sthe lessons in life she needs to restire her self-esteem
and the courage to move on.
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In
some ways it fits into the 'chick-lit' genre of 'modern girl seeking
man' but is a superior entry into what is often a depressing list
of often cliched and badly-written stories.
Tessaro
does avoid many chick-lit conventions such as quirky chapter titles,
long lists when the story fails, RANDOM CAPITALS or even line drawings.
However,
its own quirk is that is a based around a book that Tessaro read
many years ago which gave advice about how the stylish woman should
dress for every occasion (which makes it interesting for the fashion
history alone! And brings to mind images of an impeccably turned-out
Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Kennedy).
The plot of Elegance is not a new one but is written in a way that,
although none of the characters are particularly sympathetic, we
like them anyway.
Louise's
discovery of herself (at a relatively late age for such discoveries)
is achieved via her failed marriage, her gay best friend (the must-have
accessory for every modern woman, apparently), and her search for
love. Not just the love of a good man but also how to love and accept
herself and her friends, and their own flaws and foibles.
Tessaro's
evident love of London results in some interesting and affectionate
details about places in the captial but Louise could just as easily
be moving around any large urban city.
It's basically an old-fashioned love story (there are no sex scenes)
in which our heroine, distraught at the beginning at what becomes
a small but life-changing incident, rebuilds herself and her life
(her health, her wardrobe, her career) inspired and guided by the
chic advise of Madame Dariaux.
Except
Louise, being only human, makes mistakes, gets things badly wrong,
and has to improvise and update the advice she is so carefully living
by.
A good read, very enjoyable, with (as you might guess) a happy ending.
Samantha
Holland
Elegance
is published on 2 June 2003.
Read
more BBC Leeds book
reviews.
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