Naked by Betsy Franco (and a Giveaway!)

 

When I visited the Rodin Museum in Paris two falls ago, I was struck by the statue, Maturity, by sculptress Camille Claudel, who was in love with Rodin. Camille lost out to an older woman, Rodin’s long time lover, Rose Beuret.

Without knowing the full story, I cheered for the older Rose and wrote this post (after all, this is a menopause blog.We champion ladies of a certain age.)

 

However, I shouldn’t have necessarily cheered for Rose because I didn’t really know the story.

But writer Betsy Franco researched and wrote the story in her novel, Naked  (Tryus Books, 2013), 

When Naked came out, Betsy sent out a call for photos of Camille Claudel’s work. I sent her the shots I took that day at the Rodin, along with the link to my blog post. She was kind of enough to write us a few words of reflection on the sculpture and her take on the love triangle.

She writes:

The triangle between Camille Claudel, Rose Beuret, and Rodin, as portrayed in Camille’s sculpture Maturity, has a great deal of meaning for me–Camille is one of the protagonists in my debut adult novel, Naked.

I was able to view part of the sculpture, The Implorer, which represents the young woman in the triangle, when the Metropolitan Museum in New York allowed me to study it in their storage area.

 

The look on the sculpture’s face and the fact that Camille is in my novel made me sympathetic to her, but Barbara Younger’s take on the triangle gave me a new perspective.

Although I believe that Rodin’s love for Camille was more passionate than for Rose and that their shared genius in the area of sculpture drew them closer, perhaps part of the reason Rodin ultimately chose Rose was the wisdom, security, and depth that can be found in a relationship with an older woman.

Me again: Look who we see reaching into the photo of Betsy below. (Photo credit Claire Kirch.)

 

You can read more of the story behind Naked in this Publisher’s Weekly article about Betsy.  Naked is an adult book, but here’s a wonderful quote from the article on how Betsy got started writing:

“…she could not continue to paint with young children in the house, because oil paints “were like poison.” So she decided to write children’s books—first as a freelancer for educational publishers, and then books under her name for the trade. “I took all the energy I’d put into painting and used it to write. It was an experiment. And it worked” she says.

Back to Naked. Here are some snippets from two of the book’s stellar reviews:

“The Time Traveler’s Wife meets Midnight in Paris”

–Mercury News

“a seamless blend of fiction, biography, and contemporary culture” –Publisher’s Weekly

 

Giveaway: I’m giving away two paperback copies of Naked. For a chance to win, please enter a comment by October 1 saying you’d like to be a winner. U.S. and Canada only, thanks!

To learn more about Betsy and her work and to see some great family photos, check out her website at BetsyFranco.Com