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Overview
From the gifted young author of A Parisian From Kansas comes The Mistress. Set in 1943, in a Paris ravaged by war, The Mistress tells the decadent story of one woman's search for knowledge, money, and satisfaction. In his office in the rue de Maubeuge, Dr. Emile Bastien, aided by his nurse and mistress, Simone, treats the ailments of the Nazi occupiers. Bastien's increasingly cynical children and bitter wife, miles away in the French countryside, plot separately to obtain the family's fortune, 20 ingots of gold buried in the vineyard, for themselves. As the war progresses and loyalties shift, the doctor is implicated in a Nazi's death and escapes the Germans only to be arrested as a collaborator when Paris is liberated. Simone's lot appears even bleaker, yet she cunningly manages to turn the tables on the entire Bastien family. In the tradition of Sebastien Japrisot's literary thrillers, The Mistress pulls readers into a world where no one's motives are clear, where there is no easy redemption, and where to triumph, one must sink to the depths of duplicity.Synopsis
From the gifted young author of A Parisian From Kansas comes The Mistress. Set in 1943, in a Paris ravaged by war, The Mistress tells the decadent story of one woman's search for knowledge, money, and satisfaction. In his office in the rue de Maubeuge, Dr. Emile Bastien, aided by his nurse and mistress, Simone, treats the ailments of the Nazi occupiers. Bastien's increasingly cynical children and bitter wife, miles away in the French countryside, plot separately to obtain the family's fortune, 20 ingots of gold buried in the vineyard, for themselves. As the war progresses and loyalties shift, the doctor is implicated in a Nazi's death and escapes the Germans only to be arrested as a collaborator when Paris is liberated. Simone's lot appears even bleaker, yet she cunningly manages to turn the tables on the entire Bastien family. In the tradition of Sebastien Japrisot's literary thrillers, The Mistress pulls readers into a world where no one's motives are clear, where there is no easy redemption, and where to triumph, one must sink to the depths of duplicity.
The New York Times Book Review - Liam Callanan
...A fine, wicked book.
Editorials
Liam Callanan
...A fine, wicked book.— The New York Times Book Review
Publishers Weekly -
Proffers a trenchant view of WWII from the vantage point of a French doctor. Emile Bastien's successful method for treating stomach ailments with electroshock brings him patients from both the Reich and the Resistance. His home life is not nearly as healthy as his career, however, with an estranged wife living in the south of France, children whose attitudes toward him seem to waver between resentment and begrudging affection, and a mistress, Simone, who toys constantly with his passions. Emile gets an opportunity to make a strike for the Resistance when a high-ranking Nazi official ends up on his operating table; he takes his chance with a gruesome detour from his normal operating procedure. As Emile hides his crime, he also hides a huge cache of gold from both Nazis and loved ones. Tapon's taut narrative zips along smoothly, though sometimes at the expense of depth. The political implications are sometimes skirted, and Tapon's rushed style can cloud pivotal moments with melodrama--as it does when Simone tries to trade sex for her lover's life after his arrest as a Nazi collaborator. However, Tapon's polished and efficient dialogue is satisfying, and those looking for an entertainment with strong--but not forbidding--doses of moral questioning will not be disappointed.Library Journal
This intriguing World War II novel is filled with cunning characters. Emile Bastien is a physician who specializes in stomach ailments. His estranged wife, Marie, lives on a farm miles away, where Emile has hidden a cache of gold. Meanwhile, Emile's two children are tended by Simone, his secretary, cook, and lover. Trouble really begins in this already tense household when an SS officer comes to Emile with a bleeding ulcer. Emile decides to exact some revenge against the Nazis by making sure that the major will not recover from his operation. When Emile is executed for being a collaborator, Simone and Marie engage in a lengthy argument before deciding on how to split the gold bars. Even the children play against each other and the adults in order to get what they want. Unfortunately, Tapon (A Parisian from Kansas, LJ 2/1/97) moves his plot along so fast that there is little time for the characters to reflect on their actions; more description could have fleshed out their sketchy portrayals. Recommended for large public libraries.--Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OHLiam Callanan
...[A] fine, wicked book. -- The New York Times Book ReviewKirkus Reviews
A nest-of-vipers melodrama set in German-occupied France near the end of WWII, from the young author of last year's debut novel A Parisian from Kansas. The story begins in 1944 in Paris, where "stomach doctor" Emile Bastien, assisted by his beautiful secretary-nurse (and mistress) Simone Givry, maintains a thriving practice during the lean Occupation years by numbering Nazi officers among his patients. Emile is separated from his wife Marie, from whom he has hidden a fortune in gold ingots—presumably somewhere on the family's country vineyard currently occupied by the embittered Marie. An extended flashback to 1942 explicitly links the Bastiens' willful daughter Paulette and resentful son Rene to their parents' past and present machinations—though it interrupts, and somewhat diffuses the main plot, which develops from Emile's vengeful surgical mistreatment of ulcer patient Heinrich Schrodinger, an SS major who has smilingly threatened, while describing his symptoms, to appropriate the stoical Simone. As Paris is liberated, Tapon pours it on: the melodrama rises to—well, risible levels. Emile is arrested by French authorities for having "aided Nazis." Simone, desperate to retrieve the "dowry" she knows he's hidden, contrives to visit Emile in prison by seducing a brainless guard ("She had never felt stronger, had never so dominated a man"). A confrontation during the reading of Emile's will puts Simone and Marie into collusion against the defiant Paulette; a discovery is made in the Bastien country house's cellar; and there's a savage sudden twist at the end. If all this sounds a bit overloaded, be assured that it is: Tapon seems to have intended to marry anironic study of wartime mentality and morality to a sleek, sexy Diabolique-like suspense tale.Book Details
Published
July 1, 2009
Publisher
Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Format
MP3 Book
ISBN
9781441700889