Claude & Camille

A Novel of Monet

By: Stephanie Cowell

Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove

A vividly-rendered portrait of both the rise of Impressionism and of the artist at the center of the movement, Claude and Camille is above all a love story of the highest romantic order.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young man named Claude Monet decided that he would rather endure a difficult life painting landscapes than take over his father’s nautical supplies business in a French seaside town. Against his father’s will, and with nothing but a dream and an insatiable urge to create a new style of art that repudiated the Classical Realism of the time, he set off for Paris.

But once there he is confronted with obstacles: an art world that refused to validate his style, extreme poverty, and a war that led him away from his home and friends. But there were bright spots as well: his deep, enduring friendships with men named Renoir, Cézanne, Pissarro, Manet—a group that together would come to be known as the Impressionists, and that supported each other through the difficult years. Even more illuminating was his lifelong love, Camille Doncieux, a beautiful, upper-class Parisian girl who threw away her privileged life to be by the side of the defiant painter and embrace the lively Bohemian life of their time.

His muse, his best friend, his passionate lover, and the mother to his two children, Camille stayed with Monet—and believed in his work—even as they lived in wretched rooms and often suffered the indignities of destitution. But Camille had her own demons—secrets that Monet could never penetrate—including one that when eventually revealed would pain him so deeply that he would never fully recover from its impact.

Camille & Claude (more like it)

A remarkable story that captures the couple's codependency while not taking away from the strength of their characters. It is easy for the reader to fall in love with Camille just as Claude has done. The author has created a significant achievement and the reader only enhances the quality of work. I thoroughly enjoyed this listen.

Great book!

I loved the story that is quite believable.

I enjoyed the treatment of Monet as a fallible man as all are.

Dramatic fictionalization

This book takes Liberty with the story of Monet but is overall a really nice read. Worth listening to, great performance by the narrator

Just awesome romantic and classic

Well done love the explanation done at the end by the author even giving details of Claude Monet's burial site and grounds - listened intently of how all the characters were described to their appearance and dress even facial expressions made you feel you were actually there - Stephanie Cowell was awesome thank you for bringing this to listeners and readers alike ! - Cindy

Bravo!

The reader gave this novel life as did the wonderous spinning of the story! I am ever so grateful for the read!