One Book One County Dufferin

Now in its fifth exciting year! One Book One County allows all residents of Dufferin County to read together in a gigantic book club. The program promotes Canadian literature, reading and discussion by encouraging everyone to participate in book clubs, on-line chats, contests and activities related to the theme of the selected Canadian title.

The book chosen this year is The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

Buchanan, a Toronto author, has written a gripping novel set in Belle-Époque Paris, inspired by both the real-life model for Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen and the era's most notorious criminal trial. The Globe and Mail calls it a "cinematic read that is hard to put down, destined to be hotly debated book-club fodder across the country."

Check out the updates at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Book-One-County/187247887964822

The Painted Girls

by Cathy Marie Buchanan

"No social being is less protected than the young Parisian girl-by laws, regulations, and social customs." - Le Figaro, 1880

So opens Buchanan's critically acclaimed second novel, The Painted Girls. Set in la belle époque Paris and based largely on historical fact, the author deftly weaves truth and fiction to tell the story of young Marie van Goethem, the "petit rat" who posed for Edgar Degas' famous sculpture Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen.

Marie and Charlotte van Goethem have no choice but to follow their older sister, Antoinette, into the Paris Opéra ballet school when the death of their father leaves the family with no money to pay their bills. Marie rises quickly in the ranks of the ballet attracting the attention of Edgar Degas, who pays her to model for his paintings and sculpture, and of Monsieur Lefebvre, whose intentions are less honourable. Meanwhile Antoinette falls for the charms of Émile Abadie, a young ruffian who is charged with being an accomplice in two sensational murders. Seduced by the worlds of ballet, art and crime, the sisters must find their way to happiness in a city with little compassion for its most vulnerable citizens.

Published in December 2012, The Painted Girls has not only received enthusiastic reviews but is a People Magazine Pick, a Good Housekeeping Book Pick, an Indie Next pick, a USA Today New and Notable selection, a Barnes & Noble Staff Pick, an Entertainment Weekly Must List pick, a Vogue Books People Are Talking About selection, a Chatelaine Book Club pick and a national bestseller in Canada.

"You'll be swept up in this emotional tale of strength and survival, punctuated by tantalizing facts about the world of ballet and the artists of the time." - Chatelaine Magazine

"Cathy Marie Buchanan paints the girls who spring from the page as vibrantly as a dancer's leap across a stage... a captivating story of fate, tarnished ambition and the ultimate triumph of sister-love." -The Washington Post

"a strong, suspenseful narrative... a convincing, heartfelt story." - National Post