'An exquisite portrait of splendour, sacrifice and suffering. What begins with a single Renoir painting of two young girls unfolds into an elegant, poignant sweep of 20th-century European history. Ostler's masterful prose and groundbreaking research creates a book with the richness of a novel and the authority of deep scholarship' -- Natalie Livingstone, author of The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World's Most Famous Dynasty 'I adore Ostler's evocative and lyrical writing that takes us through pivotal, changing times in history - from the Belle Époque to the world wars - with revelations (and beautiful writing) on art, family and scandal. Ostler's deeply researched, scholarly but entertaining book, is underpinned by a revelatory secret that will leave you gripped to the end' -- Katy Hessel, author of The Story of Art Without Men 'Through the drama of a single painting, Catherine Ostler has brought together a compelling work of family biography, Belle Époque French culture, and history of art set against the terror of world war and generational poison of antisemitism. Drawing on new archival research and family testimony, this is both a rich, global history and intense, personal chronicle all flowing from Renoir's sublime portrait' -- Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum 'From Paris to London to São Paulo, The Renoir Girls is a spellbinding journey into the dark heart of Europe's twentieth century and into the sadness and secrets of one family in particular. With formidable research and beautiful prose, Catherine Ostler delights and devastates in equal measure. You will never look at these portraits the same way again' -- James McAuley, author of The House of Fragile Things 'An exceptionally profound and eye-opening book that educates us - in the most haunting and compelling way - about art, France, religion, class, gender and how the world came to be modern. Like all the greatest books, this is a story of endurance, tragedy, kindness and love.

Hugely enjoyable, beautifully written, skilful, deep and kind' -- Alain de Botton ' The Renoir Girls is a helter-skelter ride from the glittering, high society whirl of Paris in the mid-nineteenth century to the bleak gates of Auschwitz and the Nazi death camps a century later. The connecting link is deftly provided by Renoir's vivid portrait of two privileged children, 'Pink and Blue', as they journey through time from the exclusive, golden world of Proust to the dark ruins of Hitler's Europe' -- Rick Stroud, author of I Am Not Afraid of Looking into the Rifles.