📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones

 

Little Brown Book Group
20 February 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

Paris, 1789. The Oberst Factory, which crafts exquisite wallpaper for the most fashionable French homes, is a place shrouded in mystery. Most enigmatic is the woman pictured in each of its prints, rumoured to be the late Mrs Oberst, who died in peculiar circumstances.

When sisters Lara and Sofi arrive there for work, they quickly form a friendship with Josef Oberst, the motherless heir to the factory. Whilst Sofi's political fervour intensifies, Lara is disturbed by the uncanny way her life appears mirrored in the wallpaper. Meanwhile Hortense, Josef's spoilt aristocratic wife, is similarly unnerved by the scenes that line the walls of her new home. With the mobs growing ever more violent, is she in danger of meeting the same untimely end as the last Mrs Oberst?

As revolution blazes across France, the lives of Sofi, Lara and Hortense are set to collide in unimaginable and irrevocable ways. Can they change what lies ahead, or are some patterns destined to be repeated?

📖 My Review..

Told in a three person narrative, we get the unfolding story of Lara and Sofi Thibault, sisters who, after a family tragedy, move from Marseille, to the Oberst wallpaper factory in Jouy, to learn the skill of wallpaper production. We also meet Hortense du Pommier, a spoiled aristocratic young woman, whose brittle personality epitomises the French aristocracy on the eve of revolution and whose marriage into the Oberst family brings the lives of these three women into sharp spotlight.

The story gets off to a slow and steady start and sets the scene of discord well with a chilling opening chapter.. This was a time of great social and political upheaval with swathes of poverty and hardship which is juxtaposed against the blatant wealth of the aristocracy who quickly become the target for violence. Both Lara and Sofi are fascinating characters, emotionally close as only sisters can be, who need to find their way in an increasingly troubled time. Hortense, adds her own sense of volatility to this story of three very different young women who were caught up in some of the most momentous years in French history. The production of the Oberst wallpaper is well explained and quickly becomes another character in the novel and adds an interesting dimension to this fascinating story.

Well researched, and rich in historical detail, The Woman in the Wallpaper is an imaginatively written historical novel and a commendable debut by a talented writer.

About the author 

After studying English Literature at Durham University, Lora Jones began her career working in the TV industry in London, writing factual programme content and comedy material for the BBC, Channel 4 and others. She now lives high amongst the rugged hills of North Wales, where she is currently rewilding an ex-sheep farm. In her spare time she paints wildlife. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.

X@lorajones #TheWomanInTheWallpaper

X @LittleBrownUK