Book Review: The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall

Late 19th century Paris is a place of innovations and wonders. For engineer Fin Tighe, it’s also a place of refuge, a city where he can forget about his troubled youth in England and what remains of the unhappy family he left behind. Instead, he can focus not only on taking care of his beloved young cousin Aurélie but also on his intellectual passions and career. He’s been quietly thrilled to be able to work directly under the famed engineer Gustave Eiffel as they plan to build the latter’s namesake tower.

Unfortunately, they’ve hit a setback in funding. Despite the plans being approved and the government setting aside money for construction, the public outcry from Parisiens opposed to the building has caused the concerned—some would even say timid—politicians to hold back disbursement. Undaunted, Eiffel has offered an unprecedented return for any investors willing to make up the shortfall. 

Despite being close to broke himself, Fin strongly believes in the project, so has not only put in a modest stake of his own but has begun pitching the investment to his wealthier acquaintances—for a modest finder’s fee, of course. One of these acquaintances, the dashing department store heir Gilbert Duhais, is skeptical but open to being persuaded, telling Fin:

“Then make it fascinating for me, as well.”

 

“It isn’t merely an art installation—this tower is the single most bold engineering feat the world has ever known.”

 

His skepticism pushed me to find a way to engage him. “The mathematical precision involved—hundreds of thousands of joints and angles measured to the tenth of a millimeter—” I sat back, overwhelmed for a moment. “Not even the Romans would have dared anything close at the height of their arrogance.”

 

He lifted a sardonic eyebrow. “So, it’s a terribly complex, ugly, large piece of art?”

 

Normally, I’d have given up at that, unwilling to thrust my excitement onto an argumentative listener. But there was a challenge here.

Gilbert’s interest in the tower and, soon enough, in Fin draws the engineer into the kind of glittering social circle he’s never broached before. As their friendship begins to open doors, Gilbert persuades Fin to lean on the family name that the latter had once repudiated, in order to further secure the funding that Eiffel needs. But even as Gilbert and Fin’s relationship intensifies, Fin can’t help but wonder why Gilbert is so insistent on having him flirt with disaster—and legal peril—to win over more and more investors. When one of his friends is violently murdered, Fin will have to take a good hard look at this man he’s come to care for. Who, really, is Gilbert Duhais and what is he truly capable of?

The glamor of Belle Epoque Paris is put on dazzling display in this queer historical mystery, as Fin attempts to build an independent life for himself while trying to come to terms with the unfair legal burdens placed on him due not only to the murky circumstances of his birth but also to his sexuality. Having long ago abandoned love for survival, the only pure spark in his life is his relationship with Aurélie. But not even he can protect her from everything, and especially not from the demands of her chosen career in ballet:

After [the star ballerina had] preened came the arrival of dancers who’d had solos–each of which was only earned after the dancer had paid for extra classes—and it was a rare gutter flower who could afford it on her own bank account. And then finally, the members of the lowly corps, like my lovely Aurélie.

 

A dancer like her—dependent on me and my meager wages—was left with one avenue to showcase her craft: selling herself to an abonné who would pay for lessons, a choice that neither of us could countenance.

 

And yet Aurélie would not be persuaded to consider any other vocation, no matter the risk. Ballet was her passion.

Showcasing both the splendid and the profane, The Paris Affair charts the lengths that many had to go to in order to survive in late 1800s Europe. While English laws against homosexuality were draconian, a loophole in the Napoleonic code allowed gay men and trans women to live in relative, if still vulnerable, peace, making Paris a haven for the persecuted. Fin is so happy to have escaped England that he doesn’t want to rock the boat further by taking his shot at living a life unhidden, never mind the fact that he’s a paragon of virtue compared to many of the people who surround him. His journey towards uncovering the truth not only about his family but also about a rash of murders plaguing Paris—even if it does rely a little too much on tell instead of show in the final third—makes for inspirational reading, as he faces up to who he is and learns to fully claim who he really wants to be.