Publication Date: February 4, 2025
The lives of three women dramatically collide during the French Revolution: Sofi, a wallpaper factory worker; her sister Lara, a lady’s maid; and a young aristocrat, Hortense. At the factory, the sisters notice something eerie about the intricately illustrated wallpaper: the same mysterious woman appears again and again. But what does it portend?
After the death of their beloved father, sisters Sofi and Lara are forced to leave their family home in Marseilles and move to a small village on the outskirts of Paris, where they have been offered work at a factory renowned for its intricately illustrated wallpaper known as Toile de Jouy. But when Sofi and Lara arrive at the factory, owned by a wealthy businessman named Wilhelm Oberst, they notice something unsettling about the wallpaper’s pattern. At the heart of its seemingly idyllic vignettes, the same woman appears again and again: Madame Justine, Oberst’s former wife—who, they discover, met an untimely and mysterious death years before, and who bears more than a passing resemblance to Lara. At the factory, Lara attracts the attention of the factory owner’s son, Josef. But there is something uncannily familiar about their interactions, and Lara soon realizes that her life is mirroring the scenes illustrated on the wallpaper that lines her bedchamber. As the strange occurrences surrounding the wallpaper become ever more unnerving, Lara is gripped by paranoia. Is history is repeating itself and, if so, will she share the same tragic fate as the woman in the wallpaper?
If a writer’s debut novel serves as a predictor of things to come, then author Lora Jones has 468 pages of success.
Meticulously researched, The Woman in the Wallpaper takes readers back to the French Revolution, where two sisters find work in a wallpaper factory.
The wallpaper features various pastoral scenes, with images of the factory owner’s deceased wife appearing throughout. To add another layer of suspense, her death was considered untimely and suspicious. For Sofi and Lara, the scenes take on a sinister twist as Lara’s interactions with the factory owner’s son seem to be playing out in the wallpaper designs.
Meanwhile, a storm of revolution is sweeping France, displacing aristocrats and bringing in an era of change that proves to be challenging for the sisters.
The Woman in the Wallpaper offers a fine debut novel featuring a psychological twist that is eerily satisfying.
After studying English Literature at the University of Durham, Lora Jones began her career in the TV industry, reading scripts and writing for ITV, the BBC, Channel 4, and others. Lora lives in the rugged, myth-steeped hills of North Wales, United Kingdom. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.
