This book invites you, with every word of description and in-text illustration, to step into bohemia.
George du Maurier tells a tale of Trilby, a young woman, and her entourage of male friends in Paris who live and breathe 1860s bohemia. If you are reading Trilby, you are reading for the characterisation. Du Maurier’s villain Svengali is a “sinister” man with “languishing black eyes… with intent to kill”. His description is dynamic and villainous as much as the young Trilby is an early Manic Pixie Dream Girl, youthful in spirit and curiously beautiful.
Fun fact: Among other things, Trilby inspired Gaston Leroux’s novel The Phantom of the Opera.
Du Maurier’s passion for bohemia is palpable within the story and he takes you on a personal tour of Paris at that time, coloured by the perceptions of Little Billee, Taffy and the Laird.
With a dash of hypnotism and the charm of natural charisma between characters, Trilby is well worth a read.
A recommendation for any and all fans of visual storytelling, Paris, theatre and Moulin Rouge.
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