The age of light : a novel
(Book)

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. "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," she declares in 1929 upon her arrival in Paris, where she soon catches the eye of famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee persuades him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. But Man Ray turns out to be an egotistical, charismatic force, and as they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional worlds become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever. From the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during World War II, from discovering radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents, Lee pursues her passions with a fierce independence. Through it all, she 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.