It’s been about a year since I picked up The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] and fell in love with the story. Now, Natasha Lester is bringing Alix back… sort of.

The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard isn’t one I would normally pick up at first glance. I’m not a huge fan of anything set in the 1950s-1970s, and this seemed to be pretty solidly in the 70s from what I heard at first. I was pleasantly surprised to find there’s so much more to this story.

There are three timelines woven through The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM], with four different POVs, so this is a bit complicated to explain. Mizza Bricard was the muse of Christian Dior, her daughter Astrid Bricard and Hawk Jones share some chapters through the 70s, and then there’s their daughter Blythe in our modern timeline. While Mizza was a real person, the rest of these perspectives are fictional characters.

Blythe is recently divorced and caring for her two kids, when an investor suggests bringing back her missing mother’s fashion line, MIZZA. She’s torn on what to do since she’s trying to make ends meet on her own, but the press surrounding her tends to go back to her mom’s bared butt dancing on a table in a notorious silver dress. She’s tried to shake the image, but it haunts her…. just like her mother’s disappearance and father’s abandonment. She’s also dealing with her ex-husband trying to get her to launch MIZZA with him instead.

Astrid’s timeline deals with a lot of the same issues. She was adopted and everything she tried to do in fashion pointed back to her mother and her perceived lack of interest in wearing panties. She’s trying to get through fashion school but she also becomes known as a muse… even though she’s heavily involved in the designs themself. Astrid’s timeline also gives us peeks into Hawk’s head, so we see a little of her creations and struggles through his eyes.

Mizza’s chapters are a look into the furthest pasts of the story, and they don’t start coming in until we’re pretty deep into the story. From her, we get glimpses of World War II and her own similar struggle in the fashion world.

Overall, this is a complicated story of history repeating itself for three women and their efforts to not let men erase them from their own accomplishments. It’s fascinating and emotional and easily sucks you in, especially in that second half. There is the mystery of what happened to Astrid when she disappeared, romance, history, and the family struggles of three generations… so there’s something in here for everyone. And if you read Natasha’s previous book, there are plenty of Alix St. Pierre cameos tying these three women together. (However, you don’t need to read Alix in order to understand and enjoy Astrid.)

My biggest critique, which kept it from being a five-star read for me, is the voice. When you’re switching POVs as often as we are through this book, I wanted each character’s voice to feel more distinct. Alas, they do not. They all feel the same. This could be on purpose since they are related and going through similar struggles, but it felt a little flat to me. I’d occasionally forget who’s POV I was reading and have to flip back to the name at the chapter heading or look for names in the pages. Maybe I just don’t pay enough attention, or maybe it’s the story’s weak point. I’ll leave that to you to decide.

This is a solid start to my 2024 reading list!

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