Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross, 326 pages
Spare yourself the agony and do not pick up this book. It is, by far, the worst book I have read. The main character, Maude Pichon, joins an agency that hires ugly girls as companions to the wealthy to make the upper society women more attractive. She does so after failing to make it on her own in Paris. I can sum up the whole story in three sentences: Girl leaves home because father wants to marry her off to a horrible, older man. Girl moves to Paris to become something more but ends up as an ugly companion to a debutante who doesn't wish to marry. Debutante goes on to be what she wants to be and Girl starts a whole new life being something more than just an ugly companion. That pretty much sums up the whole story.
