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City of Lights The Trials and Triumphs of Ilyse Charpentier eBook Melika Dannese Lux

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City of Lights The Trials and Triumphs of Ilyse Charpentier eBook Melika Dannese Lux

This new author pulled me into her stunning debut novel with the very first page! I felt like I was actually wandering the streets of Paris in the late 1800s along with the characters so vividly portrayed by this fine new talent.

Melika Dannese Lux, the author, has created not only an accurate portrayal of life in those days, she's invented some of the most lovable, sympathetic protagonists imaginable ... and her villains are true villains in every sense of the word.

I found myself crying for the poor little orphans, Ilyse and her younger brother Maurice, when fate cast them out into the cruel world, penniless frightened, and alone. But Ilyse was not only strong and clever, she was beautiful and a fine entertainer. She managed to save herself and her brother from a life of poverty and soon became "La Petite Coquette ... Diva of the Paris Stage."

It would spoil the story if I revealed how she managed that, but it wasn't without great cost to her: she lost her brother for a time and was practically a prisoner of a debauched wealthy, titled man ... a man who could get away with murder--and did.

How did Ilyse manage to get out of "bondage" to the evil Count? And what happened when she fell in love with a gentle, kind, handsome Englishman and tried to escape? And did she ever win her brother back?

Those are all questions that kept me riveted to my seat--reading page after page--until I learned the answers, as I'm sure you will be.

Ms. Lux certainly has a "way with words," and her description, dialog, and pacing are excellent, attributes found only in the best books. She's definitely an author I'd like to hear from again, so I'm pleased to learn she's now working on the first of a fantasy trilogy that will soon be released. I, personally, can't wait to read it. She's very gifted.

I highly recommend this book. - Betty Dravis, 2007


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City of Lights The Trials and Triumphs of Ilyse Charpentier eBook Melika Dannese Lux Reviews

This is a short novel (139 pages), but it is also an intriguing character study.

This is a novel depicting the arc of the life of Ilyse Charpentier, known as "La Petite Coquette de la Perle de Paris." She was, in short, a chanteuse in an establishment featuring theater, singing, and masses of people. To "make it," she had come under the not altogether happy sponsorship of Count Sergei Rakmonovich. Thus, she was not in full control of her life.

One evening, an Englishman, Ian McCarthy, happened to attend one of her performances. They fell in love at their first meeting, producing a threat to her livelihood (the Count would not be amused by his lady falling for another man).

This work is focused on how the events outlined above resolve themselves. Much is at stake here, including Ilyse's estrangement from her brother, how she escapes the clutches of the Count, the outcome of her passion for McCarthy.

The pleasure in this slender volume is how these various issues work themselves out. The novel ends with the thoughts of Ilyse who had always (Page 139) "believed in the magic of her 'City of Lights.'"

The characters might have been developed in a bit more detail (139 pages isn't a lot of space!); the verbal interactions among characters sometimes did not ring fully true. Nonetheless, this is an enchanting little work, and one wonders at what might follow, as there are hints of future works with these characters. Worth taking a look at!
City of Lights is a period piece set in fin-de-siecle Paris, where the Moulin Rouge and other cabaret nightclubs dominate the evening culture just as the newly finished Tour de Eiffel dominates the skyline. This short novel is reminiscent of adventures serialized in magazines of the time, and the mood and plot remind me of an opulently-costumed silent film extravaganza.

Ms. Lux populates her novel with characters one might expect to see in a turn-of-the-century melodrama Ilyse Charpentier, the 21-year old French diva, Ian McCarthy, the penniless Brit who falls in love with her, Maurice, her brother, the struggling artist, and of course, Count Sergei Rakmanovich, the evil Russian patron who has trapped poor Ilyse in his clutches. The settings vary from La Perle, the glittering nightclub where Ilyse performs -- to the airy heights of the new Eiffel Tower -- to the dark and gargoyle-infested manor house which harbors the Count's dangerous obsession. Imagining City of Lights as a classic silent film, I had no trouble at all picturing Mary Pickford or Lillian Gish batting large, expressive eyes as the damsel-in-distress Ilyse, while the part of the cape-swirling villain Count Sergei would be aptly filled by Bela Lugosi. There would even be a small part for Charlie Chaplin in the role of comic relief as Renault, the French waiter.

Ms. Lux's first novel is a return to an earlier time of drama, danger (think Perils of Pauline), and romance in the City of Lights.
This new author pulled me into her stunning debut novel with the very first page! I felt like I was actually wandering the streets of Paris in the late 1800s along with the characters so vividly portrayed by this fine new talent.

Melika Dannese Lux, the author, has created not only an accurate portrayal of life in those days, she's invented some of the most lovable, sympathetic protagonists imaginable ... and her villains are true villains in every sense of the word.

I found myself crying for the poor little orphans, Ilyse and her younger brother Maurice, when fate cast them out into the cruel world, penniless frightened, and alone. But Ilyse was not only strong and clever, she was beautiful and a fine entertainer. She managed to save herself and her brother from a life of poverty and soon became "La Petite Coquette ... Diva of the Paris Stage."

It would spoil the story if I revealed how she managed that, but it wasn't without great cost to her she lost her brother for a time and was practically a prisoner of a debauched wealthy, titled man ... a man who could get away with murder--and did.

How did Ilyse manage to get out of "bondage" to the evil Count? And what happened when she fell in love with a gentle, kind, handsome Englishman and tried to escape? And did she ever win her brother back?

Those are all questions that kept me riveted to my seat--reading page after page--until I learned the answers, as I'm sure you will be.

Ms. Lux certainly has a "way with words," and her description, dialog, and pacing are excellent, attributes found only in the best books. She's definitely an author I'd like to hear from again, so I'm pleased to learn she's now working on the first of a fantasy trilogy that will soon be released. I, personally, can't wait to read it. She's very gifted.

I highly recommend this book. - Betty Dravis, 2007