Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to reconcile romantic desire with artistic ambition-and what she will have to sacrifice to do so. Lee's journey takes us from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from discovering radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. But Man Ray turns out to be an egotistical, charismatic force, and as they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. 'I'd rather take a photograph than be one,' she declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray.

She went to Paris to start over, to make art instead of being made into it.Ī captivating debut novel by Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light tells the story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse.

The age of light whitney scharer