Books like Adèle by Mary Flanagan

Celia Pippet, founder of a feminist magazine, audaciously stole from the British Museum an artifact tied to the enigmatic Adele. Joining her is filmmaker Martin and American scholar Tamara Sass. They flee to Bez in the French Pyrenees to evade capture and follow the trail of Adele, planning a documentary about high‑class prostitution and an unsolved crime. Six decades earlier, Dr. Jonas Sylvester rescued Adele from Bez and brought her to Paris, where her beauty made her legendary. Sylvester’s sister, Blanche, was tasked to look after young Adele, but a complex relationship develops between them as they escape Sylvester’s tyranny and seek revenge. The novel interweaves Blanche’s narrative of her time with Adele and Celia’s present investigation, converging in southern France where the true identity and history of Adele are ultimately revealed.

First publish date: 1997