Books: "Mademoiselle Eiffel" By Aimie K. Runyan

 

Mademoiselle Eiffel: A Novel

By Aimie K. Runyan

William Morrow Paperbacks; paperback, $18.99; eBook, $12.99; Digital Audio, $27.99; available today, Tuesday, September 10th

Aimie K. Runyan is a multi-published and bestselling author of historical and contemporary fiction, whose books include A Bakery in Paris (please click here for our review from August 2023) and The School for German Brides. She is an adjunct instructor for the Drexel University MFA in Creative Writing program, and seeks to be active in the literary community in Colorado and beyond. She has received a nomination for a Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Writer of the Year Award, a Historical Novel Society's Editor's Choice selection, and a four-time finalist for the Colorado Book Awards.

Mademoiselle Eiffel is Runyan's new novel, and it is set in nineteenth century Paris. She tells the little-known story of Clair Eiffel, and her significant contributions to the city of Paris, which were overlooked at the time. 

Claire is the beautiful, brilliant eldest daughter of Gustave Eiffel, who it doesn't take much to figure what he is known for. She is doted upon with an education that's the envy of many sons of the upper classes, and entirely out of reach of most daughters. 

The idyllic childhood that Claire had was torn asunder when her mother passed away. She is just fourteen years old at the time of this tragedy, and Gustave makes clear that he expects Claire to fill her mother's place as caregiver to the younger children and manager of the family home. 

Claire proves her competence, and with that, her importance to her her father grows. Eventually, she accompanies him on his travels and becomes his confidante and private secretary. She learns his father's architectural trade and becomes indispensable to his work - that is until Gustave's bright young protege, Adolphe Salles, takes up more of his time. Though Claire at first resents being pushed aside, she begins to form a friendship with Adolphe, which turns into something more. 

In 1885, Claire marries Adolphe, and the Eiffel legacy is preserved. Soon after, they are privileged by the biggest commission of Eiffel's career, a giant tower to dominate the 1889 World's Fair to showcase Paris' leading role in the worlds of art and architecture. 

Claire becomes a hostess to the scientific elite, which includes Thomas Edison, and this puts her under not just the watchful eye of her family and father's circle, but the world.

When Gustave Eiffel becomes involved in an endeavor to build a canal in Paris that turns into a disaster, it ends with him in prison. It is up to Claire to secure his father's freedom, and also preserve the hard-won family legacy.

This story is about love, devotion, and commitment to a family legacy, while also, filled with plenty of historical information about Paris at that time, which is a specialty of Runyan's books.

In this excerpt, Runyan writes of a critical moment for Claire and Gustave: 

September 7, 1891

1, rue Rabelais, Paris

"Damn the brutes," Papa muttered an uncharacteristic curse as he surveyed the wreckage of his office. He lingered over a pile of white plaster shards that had once been a likeness of some Greek goddess of another, shaking his head. "That statue belonged to my mother."

My lips turned up at the memory of my grandmother, the great Bonne Maman Eiffel. Were she still with us, I liked to imagine she would have fended off the intruders with the power of her steely gaze alone. Where lesser mortals might have needed a blade or a firearm, her fittingly Gorgon-esque stare would have been enough to terrify a workaday thief into a life so virtuous they'd be fit for the Vatican.

"She gave it to you and Maman because she hated it, it it's any consolation." She'd muttered as much one day when she'd seen it in Papa's office and didn't realize I could overhear. She thought the neoclassical phase, with all the scantily clad Greek deities, was an unmistakable sign that civilization had irrevocably teetered over the precipice of decline. The statue must have been a gift from someone significant enough that it couldn't be disposed of, no matter how discreetly, but passed along to young newlyweds who so desperately needed to feather their new nest.

She was always a clever one, especially when it served her own interests.

Or those of the Eiffel family name.

"Have the brigands taken anything?" Adolphe stepped gingerly around some strewn papers; sketches of a bridge in some remote corner of the Orient that Papa had been engaged to build some years back. There were dozens of detailed plans for the ambitious projects of the company papering the floor so that the thick Turkish rug was hardly visible beneath them. "Was there anything of value in here?"

My hand fluttered to the ruby collar at my throat. Another expensive token of Papa's affection and appreciation. And there were many others in the case upstairs. The cool bands of metal felt as though they might constrict around my windpipe. As extravagant as the bespoke silk gown I wore for an evening at the opera and a decadent meal beforehand at the Cafe de la Paix.

'"hese weren't robbers coming after my diamond ear bobs, Adolphe." My husband crossed his arms, awaiting my explanation. I went to the sideboard for a sniffer of cognac before saying his curiosity. "They were looking for evidence to use against Papa and the company."

With my free hand I gestured to the forest of ledgers that covered the entire surface of Papa's mammoth desk, all of them open, though nothing ripped or damaged. Those documents were treated with a modicum of care. The looters had been reading them and searching for the evidence to prove their case against the Compagnie Eiffel.

I sipped my cognac. "I'd wager Maman's rosary that there are several volumes of ledgers missing: 1886 to 1889, when the canal project folded. Even those since then, if they wanted to be thorough."

Adolphe crossed to the desk and examined the leather tomes for himself. "Every ledger since 1886 up through last year. They didn't get this year's because it's locked up in my desk upstairs. For trained police, they treated your father's property with no more respect than common thieves, whatever you say."

I nodded. "They acted like thugs, I won't deny it. The staff were scared out of their wits. I'm only glad they didn't try to interfere with the search and get themselves in trouble to protect us. The police had their warrant and I'm certain they planned it deliberately for an evening we'd be away so we wouldn't have the chance to hide anything."

"I can only imagine how they must have felt. A miserable business, the lot of it." Papa flung himself into his chair and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'll have to speak to them all in the morning. Don't just assure them that you in no way hold them responsible for the actions of a few zealous detectives, but rather thank them for their cooperation with the authorities in a manner that corroborates the innocence of the Eiffel name and your company."