Why am I passionate about this?

Photography has been a passion throughout my life. I remember so clearly my first experience of the dark room: the dim red light, the chemical smell of the developing solution, and a ghost-like image gradually coming into focus. In my novel I Stopped Time I wanted to pay tribute to the pioneers of photography, but would I be able to bring that same depth of clarity to the written word? It was an incredibly proud moment when one reviewer wrote, "This book voiced everything Iā€™ve held inside of me as a photographer."


I wrote

I Stopped Time

By Jane Davis,

Book cover of I Stopped Time

What is my book about?

What if the villain of your childhood turned out to be someone really rather extraordinary?

In my novel, I Stoppedā€¦

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Age of Light

Jane Davis Why did I love this book?

I have always had a fascination with Lee Miller, but would have been too much in awe of her to attempt a fictionalised version of her life. And yet debut novelist Whitney Scharer did just that, triggering a bidding war in the publishing world.

The focus of the novel is one episode in the life of an extraordinary woman. Scharer parachutes us straight into bohemian Paris, 1929. Lee Miller has abandoned a successful career as a model at New Yorkā€™s Vogue to pursue a dream. She doesnā€™t want to be in front of the camera any longer, she wants to be behind it. And sheā€™s identified a man she thinks can help her ā€“ the charismatic and egotistical Man Ray. Thereā€™s just one problem. May Ray doesnā€™t take on students. Heā€™s about to meet the one woman capable of changing his mind.  

As they work side by side in Man Rayā€™s studio, more than one kind of chemistry is at play, but when two forceful personalities collide, sparks fly!

By Whitney Scharer,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Age of Light as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Scharer captures the thrill of artistic creation and the swirling hedonism of Paris's beautiful people.' The Times

Model. Muse. Lover. Artist.

'I'd rather take a picture than be one,' Lee Miller declares, as she arrives in Paris one cool day in 1929. Lee has left behind her life in New York and a successful modelling career at Vogue to pursue her dream of becoming a photographer. She soon catches the eye of renowned Surrealist artist Man Ray and convinces him to hire her as his assistant. Man is an egotistical, charismatic force, and as Lee becomes both his muse andā€¦


Ad

Book cover of Too Good

Too Good by Carol Moreira,

This is a steamy tale of vulnerability and betrayal. Struggling in her marriage, her new life in England, and her work in a hospice, Canadian-born Lindsey is drawn to her best friend's attractive husband, David.

Guilt about her fascination with David is complicated by her admiration for his wife, Grace,ā€¦

Book cover of Sweet Caress

Jane Davis Why did I love this book?

I loved the ambitious concept behind William Boydā€™s novel. Take seventy-five ā€˜found photosā€™ and construct a life around them.

At the age of seventy, Amory Clay is reflecting on her long photographic career, which took her from London, where she photographed the smart set, to Berlin where she captured its nightlife. Like Lee Miller, Amory Clay transitioned from New York fashion shoots to photojournalism, reporting on war-torn Normandy, and, much later, in the Vietnam war. Now, sheā€™s about to embark on a personal missionā€”to track down her daughter, Blythe.

Boyd seamlessly weaves fact with fiction. This was one of those books that had me Googling the names of characters, thinking that there must be two photographers I had overlooked, only to conclude that they were fictional. (I shanā€™t give the game away and tell you which!)

By William Boyd,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sweet Caress as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Amory Clay's first memory is of her father doing a handstand - but it is his absences that she chiefly remembers. Her Uncle Greville, a photographer, gives her both the affection she needs and a camera, which unleashes a passion that irrevocably shapes her future. She begins an apprenticeship with him in London, photographing socialites for magazines. But Amory is hungry for more and her search for life, love and artistic expression will take her to the demi-monde of 1920s Berlin, New York in the 1930s, the Blackshirt riots in London, and France duringā€¦


Book cover of Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Jane Davis Why did I love this book?

What the author does brilliantly is to depict the random nature of artistic success. Twenty years ago, on the morning after a dinner party, struggling photographer, Rebecca Winter, acted on a whim. She photographed the scene that confronted her when she entered the kitchen. The Still Life with Bread Crumbs of the bookā€™s title captured the publicā€™s imagination and went on to win a major award, making Rebecca an unwitting womenā€™s champion. 

Fast forward to the present day. We see Rebecca as a 60-year-old divorcee. Now that offers of work have dried up and seeing no other solution to her financial predicament, she exchanges her New York apartment for a cabin in the back of beyond.

Exploring the woods surrounding the cabin, Rebecca stumbles across a series of mysterious white crosses with accompanying pieces of memorabilia: a small trophy, the plaster cast of a handprint. Thinking of the objects only in terms of composition, framing, and light, she fails to ask herself, is there a story behind these miniature shrines?

By Anna Quindlen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Still Life with Bread Crumbs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A superb love story from Anna Quindlen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rise and Shine, Blessings, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life
 
Still Life with Bread Crumbs begins with an imagined gunshot and ends with a new tin roof. Between the two is a wry and knowing portrait of Rebecca Winter, a photographer whose work made her an unlikely heroine for many women. Her career is now descendent, her bank balance shaky, and she has fled the city for the middle of nowhere. There she discovers, in a tree stand withā€¦


Ad

Book cover of Always Orchid

Always Orchid by Carol Van Den Hende,

Always Orchid is the moving, award-winning finale to the Goodbye Orchid series that Glamour Magazine called "a modern, important take on the power of love." With themes of identity, disability, and the redemptive power of love, Always Orchid is perfect for fans of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielleā€¦

Book cover of The Bohemians

Jane Davis Why did I love this book?

Dorothea Lange went on to achieve fame as a documentary photographer during the Great Depression, but this book takes us back to the 1920s and her arrival in San Francisco. Working as a photographerā€™s assistant, Dorothea has scrimped in order to save her earnings, in the hope of establishing her own studio. But within an hour of getting off the bus, she falls victim to a pickpocket who takes every penny. 

With only wits and talent to survive on, like the residents who rebuilt the city after the great earthquake, Dorothea too must find a way. Soon she meets Caroline Lee, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, who is her introduction to Monkey Block, the artistsā€™ colony at the beating heart of the bohemian city. Until she makes her name, studio portraits must be her bread and butter until, with Caroline at her side as an assistant, Dorothea opens her first studio. But this is an age of prejudice. Dorothea must decide: what is she willing to sacrifice in order to achieve success in a manā€™s world?

And when she meets and later marries the famous painter Maynard Dixon, will she be able to persuade him that she is as serious about her own career as he is about his?

By Jasmin Darznik,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Bohemians as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A dazzling novel of one of Americaā€™s most celebrated photographers, Dorothea Lange, exploring the wild years in San Francisco that awakened her career-defining grit, compassion, and daring.

ā€œJasmin Darznik expertly delivers an intriguing glimpse into the woman behind those unforgettable photographs of the Great Depression, and their impact on humanity.ā€ā€”Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things

In this novel of the glittering and gritty Jazz Age, a young aspiring photographer named Dorothea Lange arrives in San Francisco in 1918. As a newcomerā€”and naĆÆve one at thatā€”Dorothea is grateful for the fast friendship of Caroline Lee, a vivacious,ā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

I Stopped Time

By Jane Davis,

Book cover of I Stopped Time

What is my book about?

What if the villain of your childhood turned out to be someone really rather extraordinary?

In my novel, I Stopped Time, reclusive ex-politician, Sir James Hastings, takes a delivery. He hasnā€™t placed an order for anything, but the boxes keep on coming. They contain his motherā€™s legacy: the photographs she took over the course of almost a century. At first, Sir James wants nothing to do with them. This was the woman who abandoned him as a child. But gradually he comes to see the world through his motherā€™s eyes. And he realises that she wasnā€™t the villain of his childhood ā€“ far from it.

Book cover of In the Blink of an Eye
Book cover of The Age of Light
Book cover of Sweet Caress

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

2,008

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

šŸ“š You might also likeā€¦

Book cover of Children of Change: A Memoir

Children of Change by Carole Kelly,

This is a personal story of Carole and her rise from the ashes of tragedy as a fourteen year old, to success in many areas of her life. Carole graphically depicts the story of how success is the result of a passion and determination that comes from deep inside

Whileā€¦

Book cover of The Accidental Heiress

The Accidental Heiress by Mary Kendall,

Margaret Oā€™Keefe, a horse farm owner, is desperate to save her ancestral property, Needham Forest. When she hears a rumor about a hidden treasure on her land, she plunges into a search that uncovers more than goldā€”secrets, betrayal, and danger at every turn.

Caught between her volatile ex-husband, a scandalousā€¦

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in women photographers, San Francisco, and presidential biography?

San Francisco 208 books