This book was written in the traditional form and reads like a true classic--linear, honest and simple. First published in 1989, it is entirely devoid of the plot and writing style gimmicks and the attachment to wit and irony that characterize a lot of novels (gearing for Hollywood I suppose) these days. So it is perfectly understandable how so much flak is hurled at it for being predictable, flat and boring. I, however, found it to be an exceptional read.

Faulks is without a doubt a superior writer and a master storyteller. In the case of this novel (less than 300 pages; not what would normally be considered a page-turner but I devoured it in half a day nevertheless) the plot takes a backseat to let the writing itself--luminous, restrained, impeccable--emerge as the victor. There are the beautiful (not fancy, but beautiful) turns of phrase. The setting comes to life in vivid and vital but never intoxicating detail. And then there are the characters, fully imagined and with a remarkable depth and complexity that attests to Faulks' masterful understanding of the human psyche and discernment of the pathos of desire and guilt.

I wish we had more writers like him these days.

P.S. I chanced upon this at a book sale for only 10 pesos or roughly 20 cents. Talk about a steal.

Richly Gallic, redolent of the interwar period in Europe, The Girl at the Lion D’Or is a cumulative revelation of Anne (The Girl) and a steadily burdensome understanding of the sad hindrances in her life.
She comes to love Hartmann, who is ultimately contemptibly weak and viciously temporizing.
I wanted to read faster near the end so I could learn the outcome, but I resisted the impulse.
Faulks makes it worthwhile to read every word. His prose is tenaciously literate and evocative; he has no mere words—he writes passages that invite the reader to understand deeply and to feel deeply.

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Faulks deftly distills some of the major themes of French inter-war society into a seemingly 'light' tale of forbidden love. There's a lot going on for a short read and I admire the way he gives historical events a personal dimension. However, the main love story didn't really draw me in. I found Anne - the 'Girl' of the title, a rounded and sympathetic heroine, but I felt indifferent to the other characters. I suspect its one of those books that will probably stay with me...but I didn't love it and wasn't sorry to finish it and move onto something else.

Was this really written by the same author that wrote Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War? Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War is one of my most loved novels, and being only my second Faulks novel, I boldly presumed that I couldn't go wrong. Sadly, I was mistaken, and I have been left with a luke-warm and painfully unbelievable love affair.

First off, I must state that I enjoy Faulks and his beautiful writing style. His prose is similar to "Birdsong" and in that respect, I cannot fault him. Unfortunately, the story was predictable, and only half baked. I knew what was coming around a chapter in, and it did not thrill me in the slightest.

We have an odd love affair, that never really developed properly, so as the reader we don't feel their sexual tension as we would expect to. I want to be able to smell their sweat and sense the afterglow of their love-making. Instead, I received some odd breast grasping and the male in question, had climaxed before he had even began. Call me crazy, but I've read better sex scenes.

The characters were unlikeable from the start. I wanted to feel something for them, but the story was so short and hasty, I felt as if Faulks didn't give me time.

Overall, I'm very disappointed with this novel, and I honestly think I went in with my hopes too high.

A moving love story set in rural France in the 1930's - well written with strength of characterisation.

This isn't my favourite of Sebastian Faulks's novels, but it was a good read nonetheless. It deals with the classic Faulks themes of love and loss, emotions, wonderful historical settings and clever links to his other works. I'm a great fan of his style. The main weakness in my opinion was the ending which was very abrupt, but overall i enjoyed it.

Not my cuppa. It reads like a historical romance novel (or my imagination of one). All the intrigue and psychological underpinnings lead to . . . nothing. Memo to file: stop selecting books based upon whether they fit in my purse.

As ever Faulks' style of writing is captivating and entrancing. I love how he writes so poetically and makes even the dullest of stories seem like an epic drama. I wasn't keen on the plot, the characters or the ending but somehow I still enjoyed reading it. I don't think I would recommend this book based on dull and vague storyline but it is beautifully penned nevertheless.

there was only one of two ways the novel could end, and it still nailed it despite one's calculated premonition.
characters are the heart of this novel and faulks reinforces the need for a well-written and entirely convincing cast.

This is a historical romance novel, the first of Sebastian Faulks’ ‘French Trilogy’, the other two being ‘Birdsong’ and ‘Charlotte Grey’, and all three are set in France, during the Great War, the Inter-War period and the Second World War. This novel, being the first he wrote in this trilogy, is set during the Inter-War period, the year being 1936 and the time of the Popular Front Govt. of Leon Blum. It is basically about a young Woman called Anne, her life and illicit affair with a rich married Lawyer called Hartmann. Its quite a short novel, but its main themes are those of love & despair, set within an historical wrapper which gives a small insight into French Society during the 1930s, detailing through the lives of the various characters in the book the conflict with Germany, French internal social divisions, life under the Popular Front Govt. (mentioning the paid holidays they introduced etc), and, for a book if its size (~250 pages), gives a strong historical feel of the time.

Anne is basically a young Woman who travels from Paris to a small coastal village to work in a hotel, The Lion d’Or, as a waitress and general worker. It is clear near the beginning of the book that she has some underlying issues, which are well suppressed in her life, but the dreams she suffers from are disturbing to her. Whilst working at The Lion d’Or she meets Hartmann, a wealthy Jewish Lawyer who lives in a manor house near the village. She immediately falls for him and tries her hardest to seduce and eventually succeeds in getting a part time job working as a maid for his house. Slowly their relationship develops, Hartmann finding Anne alternative accommodation, having a weekend away together without his wife finding out and eventually, during this weekend, making love together, thus cementing their relationship.

Both Anne and Hartmann have issues – this is made very clear early on. Anne, trusting her new lover, slowly explains her past and it is not a pretty one. The effect the Great War had on France controls this book and its characters, made all too clear with Annes problems and to a lesser extent, but no more profound, Hartmann too. Anne lost both her parents during the conflict, her Father because he shot an Officer during the time of the mutiny of the French Army in 1917 (and was subsequently himself shot), her Mother as a direct consequence of being victimised by the village they lived in after the war because he was turned into a public scapegoat by the press. How nasty they can become towards victims. She committed suicide as a result of both the loss of her husband and the subsequent abuse in her village. Anne was brought up in Paris by a foster father, but her memories of seeing her Mother dead, and the loss of her Father and the resulting abuse the family received is only opened up with Hartmann. I think he becomes more paternal towards her from her opening up about her past, this is clear, and I suppose the reasons Anne falls totally in love with him is in part due to the fact he is the only person she has ever opened up to, as she had always been evasive about her past.

I found Hartmann to be a confusing character; it’s clear, compared to his friends in the novel, that he is no womaniser, and his relationship with Anne comes as something natural for him – he has fallen in love. His wife, Christine, probably is the only real victim, but she is so upper class that my sympathies lied with Anne (well, she is the focus of the book), but we do understand Hartmann’s problems with his marriage – Christine having miscarried and can no longer bear children seems to be the main underlying factor in their distance as a couple, or at least I got that impression. Towards the end of the book, Christine hears rumours about her husband’s relationship with Anne, and this seems to be the main reason why Hartmann finishes the affair. Selfish of him certainly, and he is the only one as well who knows the effect this will have on Anne, who has being rejected almost a third time; the loss of her parents, her foster father and now the only person she has probably only really fallen in love with all her life. He is as much disturbed by the end of the affair as Anne is I think, because he knows deep down what damage this will cause her and the life she had made in that coastal village. And it does cause her damage, quite severely. She ends up leaving the coastal town, her job and apartment, and travel back to Paris. Walking the streets in a distressed state, she ends up in a garden in a rich area of the Capital, finds a knife in a garden, and almost tries to commit suicide. But she survives and lives another day. She would probably grow up to be a strong Woman.

I liked this book. In some ways, it has more depth to it than Charlotte Grey, but not quite the same as Birdsong (which, in its own rights, is a classic novel). I liked the way it was wrapped up in the fortunes of the Popular Front of 1936/37 (with Hartmann trying to save a minister of that Govt. in the book who later also commits suicide over wrongful allegations), the way also how the Great War of 1914-1918 shaped all the characters in this novel (and probably the whole of French Society of this period), really coming into its own with the relationship of the protagonists. I recommend.

One may as well read Catherine Cookson (some of whose books I read and finished) or Dame Barbara Cartland as read this.

A soppy romance with little interest as far as I was concerned; thus I stopped reading it after about 10 chapters, at which point I could take no more. This was recommended to me by someone whose recommendations will no longer be considered (a client, not anyone I actually know online).

Very readable, and beautifully written: but on closer examination nothing really happens. Anne has a big secret which she's really scared of anyone finding out, then she tells Hartmann who is pretty well indifferent about it. She and Hartmann sleep together a few times then he chucks her out when his wife finds out. Oh, and a bit of his house falls down. There's no real resolution to any of the plot, and all in all it left me feeling disappointed.