# Belle Époque

**Author:** Elizabeth Ross
**Grade range:** Grades 9–12
**First published:** 2013
**Page count:** 243
**Genre:** Young Adult
**ISBN-13:** `9781471402098`
**ISBN-10:** `1471402096`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/belle-epoque
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

In the fight to be the most beautful, the ugly face of bohemian Paris is revealed When sixteen-year-old Maude runs away to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Increasingly desperate for money, she answers a mysterious advert: 'Young Women Wanted for Undemanding Work. Apply In Person To The Durandeau Agency.' But the work is very strange indeed. Maude discovers she is to be a repoussoir - an ugly young woman hired by Parisian socialites to enhance their beauty. Maude is humiliated - but faced with destitution, what choice does she have? Quickly (and secretly) selected as the perfect companion for the Countess Dubern's daughter Isabelle, Maude is thrown into a decadent world full of parties, glamour and astonishing cruelty. Maude finds that academic Isabelle is equal

## Where this book is assigned

### William C. Morris YA Debut Award

- **recommended** · 9th grade — [source: William C. Morris YA Debut Award winners + finalists, via Wikipedia — 2014 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Morris_Award)
- **recommended** · 10th grade — [source: William C. Morris YA Debut Award winners + finalists, via Wikipedia — 2014 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Morris_Award)
- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: William C. Morris YA Debut Award winners + finalists, via Wikipedia — 2014 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Morris_Award)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: William C. Morris YA Debut Award winners + finalists, via Wikipedia — 2014 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Morris_Award)

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