The Adventuress

A woman captured by an avaricious lord. A metamorphosis into a moth. A union with Napoleon. A cat born from a woman. A betrayal. A death. Spirit travelling.This is basically the story of Audrey Niffenegger's picture story The Adventuress. Fascinating artwork strung together with single sentences or labels to construct something of a mystical fairy tale.The story is second after the art as Niffenegger says in the afterword. She created the pictures as they came to her in a dream-like state and only when they were completed did she try to sequence them into the story of "The Adventuress".The book design and pictures are superb with high quality paper used to bring out the best of Niffenegger's art. Given that the words used as minimal at best, this is a very quick read but then it was created not to be read but really looked at. Each picture has detail and atmosphere to capture your attention for several minutes at least.It's an interesting book of art similar in style to Niffenegger's other book "The Three Incestuous Sisters" and has some excellent pictures. The story, while meandering, is in the best of fairy tales compelling and magical in equal turns. A good, well produced book but perhaps not for everyone given it's brevity in prose.

After being captivated by the unique and quirky 'Three Incestuous Sisters' i was excited to read Audrey Niffenegger's second 'picture novel' offering and would definitely say this is just as good. Slightly longer and more detailed than the first picture novel, i again found The Adventuress to be a really worthwhile and beautifully designed book with a unique story, definitely not like anything else you will have read!If like me you love books and appreciate something beautifully crafted and 'good looking' then this book is definitely for you.I cant wait to see what Niffenegger comes up with next.

Thanks

This book is pretty as an object but definately not a novel, more just a book filled with picutures and one sentence on each page. Nothing like Time travellers wife.

Anything Audrey does is magical

Only just opened 2015 it (was in storage) - house moves - and a page is torn!!! - Heartbroken!

The Adventuress is the first book by American author and artist, Audrey Niffenegger. It was created when Niffenegger was a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, developing from a series of drawings. The original books were hand printed: a limited edition of ten copies. The drawings are aquatints, featuring a young woman in a skirt and long gloves, created by an alchemist. After the woman is kidnapped by a Baron, the story takes some bizarre turns, including transformation into a moth, an affair with Napoleon, giving birth to a cat and being cared for by nuns. The text is minimal, often as little as one or two words on the page opposite the prints.In her afterword, Niffenegger explains the complicated process involved in the hand printing. The prints, in subdued colours, are quite individual, and Niffenegger’s style is distinctive. It is easy to see from her later works (The Night Book Mobile and Raven Girl) that both the quality of the art and the storytelling have improved since the earlier books she refers to as “visual novels”. Dedicated Niffenegger fans may wish to own a copy; borrowing from the library is recommended for those who are merely “interested”. Different.

The pictures have an elegant simplicity and are often beautiful in their minimalist way. However, they are not strong enough to replace the text of the story. And frankly the text is weak. The words verge on the facile, and the story itself is random (it is a "dream sequence") and disappointing. The heroine starts out strongly enough but soon fades out altogether, with a somewhat hackneyed ending. Yes it's imaginative, but after the fabulous Time Traveller's Wife I expected much better.