Book cover of The Reinvention of Love. Photo / Supplied
Book cover of The Reinvention of Love. Photo / Supplied
This 19th century romantic triangle comes to life, writes Nicky Pellegrino.
There is a trend at the moment for fictionalising the lives of real people, particularly literary figures. Already I've read novels about poet Rupert Brooke and writer Ernest Hemingway. The latest addition to the genre, The Reinvention Of Love by Helen Humphreys (Profile, $36.99), is a re-imagination of the lovetriangle between 19th century French writer Victor Hugo, his wife Adele and the literary critic Charles Sainte-Beuve.
The story begins in 1830s Paris with the young Charles being challenged to a duel by a newspaper colleague he has insulted. And so we learn from the off that Charles is a little vain and rather rash, with a flair for getting himself into complicated situations.
In love with Adele Hugo and in awe of her husband Victor's talent, he is part of their inner circle, the godfather of their youngest daughter and a regular at their home. For a while he manages to continue the love affair and the friendship: meeting Adele in a public park or hotel room, sometimes dressing as a woman (although judging by the photograph included he wouldn't have made a terribly convincing one), and meeting her in a church. Their love affair is all fierce passions, snatched moments of joy then long torments of separation; made more poignant by the fact Charles has a secret physical impediment he believes makes him unacceptable to most women. It ends when he makes the mistake of confessing the affair to Victor. Torn between her family and her lover, Adele cannot help but choose to stay with her children.
Humphreys follows the two parted lovers to the end of their lives, as they grow old and stout but never entirely let go of their love for one another, and then on beyond Adele's death to the tragic legacy of their affair; the fate of her youngest daughter Dede.
I don't know enough about Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve to see exactly where the line between truth and fiction is drawn but the plot of this tragic and bizarre story is drawn from fact. Humphreys spent five years researching and writing the novel - Saint-Beuve helping the process by obligingly writing and publishing the story of his affair shortly after it ended. Perhaps, inevitably, the tale is skewed in his favour. Victor Hugo is shown as the stereotypical creative type: a terrible husband, self-centred, with a monstrous ego, while Charles is seen as hostage to his emotions and the victim of his condition.
Novels like this one rescue people from being lost in history. How many of us today have heard of Sainte-Beuve or continue to read Hugo's work? Who knew of Adele or the fate of her daughters? Humphreys breathes new life into all of them, writing with great sensitivity, thoughtfulness and a wry tone at times.
There is a lot going on in what is a fairly slim novel: madness, confused sexuality, revolution, love and loss. But it is beautifully paced, elegantly written and compelling from start to finish. There will be rich pickings here for book clubs.
