The Disenchantment

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Set in seventeenth-century Paris, The Disenchantment follows Baroness Marie Catherine, who lives in a world of luxury, entertainment, and intrigue. However, there is also an undercurrent of darkness racing through Parisian nobility: rumours of witchcraft, deliberate poisoning, and fraud abound, and the voracity of the rumour mill means no one is completely safe. Marie Catherine hides her own secrets. Her tyrannical and distant husband is an oppressive and regulatory force, and when he is home she does all she can to protect her children from him by telling them fairy stories. However, when he is away, Marie Catherine is free to engage with her intellectual pursuits, including salons and spirited conversations with female scholars and writers. There are so many things to love about Celia Bell’s debut novel, The Disenchantment—drama in the royal court! murder! intrigue! historic gays! I could keep shouting, that’s how much I adored this enthralling story of love and scandal in seventeenth century Paris. I can’t wait to see what Celia does next!” Look,” said the sculptor to the villagers. “I have made you a woman to give to the ogre. Send her to him and he will be satisfied, for she is made of cold stone and cannot be harmed by his appetites.”’ The baronne’s right hand rested lightly on her young son’s shoulder. Her daughter stood at her left side. The children were perhaps six and nine, and both had reached the point of the sitting where they had begun to fidget. Lavoie disliked painting children. They didn’t know how to stand still, and the children of the rich were often little monsters, raised permissively by servants and then summoned to pose for hours with parents who were unpredictable strangers. Bell’s inventive debut. . . . excels at creating a hothouse atmosphere in which depravity, sensuality, and duplicity reside side by side . . . a rousing feminist fable. It’s a bold and inspired mix ofLes Liaisons DangereusesandThe Crucible.”

I loved this novel. It’s difficult to talk about this book without giving too much away, but the twists and turns of this plot are completely gripping. Bell’s writing is immersive, and captures the atmosphere and drama of this plot so thoroughly that I was hardly able to put it down. Lesbian historical fiction is undeniably my favourite literary genre and this book did not disappoint. The Disenchantmentis well-researched, comprehensive, and draws on little-known moments of French history, expertly weaving fiction and fact together to create a wholly original novel. This book is perfect for fans of Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait(2022) or Emma Donoghue’s The Sealed Letter(2008).

Can we have the one about the girl under the peapod, Maman?’ she asked, and the corner of Madame de Cardonnoy’s mouth turned up. Her expression had been so poised that Lavoie had not realised that her polished smile did not reach her eyes. Now it did, and he saw the difference.

Set in 17th century Paris, The Disenchantment takes up the infamous Affair of the Poisons as it tells the story of a love affair between two noblewomen seeking freedom from their repressive society—the unhappily married Baroness Marie Catherine and the androgynous countess Victoire Rose de Bourbon. What inspired you to write this book? The characters are fascinating and very strong, and I love that it is told solely through the perspectives of women. I really appreciate the author’s research, she included many details and characters either directly from or inspired by historical resources and literature from the period. It made for a very compelling, vivid and historically accurate read. Publishing as a lead debut in February 2023, the novel is a "gorgeous" historical novel that follows two women in 17th-century Paris who are drawn into a sinister situation following a bid to keep their love affair a secret.

Lavoie had expected her to pinch the child’s ear to enforce the command. The most unruly and spoilt children, he found, often lived in fear of their mother. A nursemaid would allow them to gallop around the nursery and break their toys, but the lady of the house still expected them to be polite and presentable before her friends. ‘ Look how gallant he is,’ they might say of a little boy. ‘ Come now, darling, bow and kiss the comtesse’s hand!’ And if the child didn’t behave, he’d be slapped, to teach him manners. It wasn’t that Lavoie had never been slapped during the years of his apprenticeship, but the way these fine ladies lost their polished mannerisms the instant a child disobeyed unsettled him.