"Were you both born dead or did you smother yourselves willingly to have people approve of you?"My take: I picked up this book because of Emilie du Chatelet although not about her. An intellectual when women were to be homemakers, she lived an interesting and scandalous life. She had a long list of accomplishments including (translating Newton from Latin to French with her own commentary) and had relationships with (younger) men who were not her husband including Voltaire. She had a daughter in her 40s, whose father was not her husband, and she died shortly after giving birth. In this book, the daughter is Lili and survives. The book structure tells Lili's story alternating with part Emilie's life. Lili lives with a woman she refers to as "Maman" and her daughter Delphine. The girls are close in age but are very different and yet best friends. Lili loves to write and Delphine loves to draw. Delphine loves clothes and Lili loves science. They are coming of age in a society where marriage is expected and society rarely allows them to have any input on the matter. What is an intellectual girl to do in a time when manners, society and religion define life for a woman?
"I promise you I will keep a watchful eye to ensure she is not made irresponsible or irreverent by exposure to modern thinking"
"You must ask yourself whom your words may offend, and take pains not to do so. Women considered charming rarely reveal their thoughts. That is because their real pleasure comes from making the men with whom they are conversing sound intelligent even when they are not."It was a brutal time to be a woman and security was a huge gift and the end goal.
The book had strong female voices. It contrasted the young Lili's struggle when faced with marrying and older man and leaving behind her interests with Emilie's decision to pursue her interests and engage with a younger man. When is it okay to be selfish? When do you decide to be happy over all else? Emilie threw out all other's opinions and risked it all to pursue what made her happy (her husband was apparently very understanding). Lili struggled with religion, family and society - she wanted to pursue her own interests and understand the world, not just be told that God created it. Emilie struggled to her ideas be taken seriously and accounted for as her ideas.
The book had its flaws. A couple characters seemed to fit too well. Maman seemed pretty modern and I missed how she had money to live as she did. Some of the male characters were not developed. The ending was very neat. Lilli was more likeable than Emilie but Emilie's life is hard to reduce to one book, yet alone a book alternating views.
End verdict: I eagerly kept reading to see what finally would become of Lili. A sign that I really liked the book.
Favorite Quote:
"Unreasonable hopes will make you miserable, but reasonable ones can shape your life, if you have the courage to listen to them" Lili absorbing her mother's message.
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