Lucie Dumas
By Katherine Mezzacappa
Publication Date: March 30th, 2026
Publisher: Stairwell Books
Pages: 278
Genre: Historical Fiction
London, 1871: Lucie Dumas of Lyon has accepted a stipend from her former lover and his wife, on condition that she never returns to France; she will never see her young son again. As the money proves inadequate, Lucie turns to prostitution to live, joining the ranks of countless girls from continental Europe who'd come to London in the hope of work in domestic service.
Escaping a Covent Garden brothel for a Magdalen penitentiary, Lucie finds only another form of incarceration and thus descends to the streets, where she is picked up by the author Samuel Butler, who sets her up in her own establishment and visits her once a week for the next two decades. But for many years she does not even know his name.
Based on true events.
Book Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million
📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.
📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.
📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.
📚📚 = It was okay.
📚 = Um...! 😕
My Review
Lucie Dumas
📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.
I’ve always been drawn to books based on true stories, especially those that explore lives you might otherwise never encounter. There’s something about real experiences—however quiet or complex—that tends to stay with me longer. Lucie Dumas is one of those books. It doesn’t rely on dramatic storytelling, but instead offers a thoughtful, layered account of a life shaped over time by circumstance, loss, and quiet endurance.
Lucie herself sits at the heart of the novel. At first, she comes across as composed and self-contained, someone who has learned how to navigate the limits of her world with careful control. Her life in London feels structured, almost deliberately so, as though every detail has been arranged to keep something deeper at bay. But as the narrative moves between her past in Lyon and her present, that sense of control begins to feel more fragile—something maintained rather than truly secure. Her life doesn’t hinge on big, decisive moments, but on a series of small shifts that gradually narrow her choices.
Gaston plays an important role in this earlier part of her life, though not in an overwhelming way. He represents the possibility of something different, a life that might have taken another direction. But that sense of possibility is never fully realised. Instead of a sudden turning point, the change comes slowly, almost imperceptibly, as hope gives way to reality. That gradual shift is what gives the story much of its emotional weight—it feels less like a fall, and more like a quiet redirection.
Back in London, the tone becomes more contained. Lucie’s world feels smaller, defined by routine and by the few people who pass through it. Monsieur is central to this part of her life, offering a kind of stability, but one that comes with its own limitations. Their relationship never quite settles into something equal, and that imbalance lingers beneath even the most ordinary moments.
In contrast, Brigid and Alfred bring a softer presence to the story. Their roles are understated, but meaningful. They offer glimpses of connection that feel more genuine and less restrictive, even if those moments remain small within the wider scope of Lucie’s life.
One of the most affecting elements of the novel is the absence that runs through it, especially when it comes to her son. He exists more in memory and imagination than in reality, and that distance quietly shapes much of what Lucie reflects on. It’s not presented as a single, overwhelming grief, but as something constant—always there, just beneath the surface.
As the story moves on, the focus turns increasingly inward. Time passes not through dramatic events, but through subtle changes—quieter days, fewer visitors, a growing stillness. There’s a sense of life gently contracting, and with that comes a different kind of clarity. Even her illness feels like part of this same progression, rather than a sudden shift, bringing together what has been building all along.
What stands out most is how the novel refuses to force meaning onto Lucie’s life. It doesn’t try to shape her story into a lesson or a warning. Instead, it allows her experiences to exist as they are—observed, remembered, and left open to interpretation. The framing of the narrative adds another layer, hinting that even this account is being subtly shaped, without ever overwhelming her voice.
By the end, what stays with you isn’t a single dramatic moment, but the feeling of having spent time in Lucie’s world—seeing things as she sees them, sitting with her memories, and understanding the spaces in between. The novel doesn’t tie everything up neatly, and it doesn’t need to. It simply comes to a quiet, fitting close.
It’s a thoughtful, understated read—one that lingers not because of what it says outright, but because of what it leaves unsaid.
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Katherine Mezzacappa
Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but currently lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She wrote The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria) and The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight) under her own name, as well as four historical novels (2020-2023) with Zaffre, writing as Katie Hutton. She also has three contemporary novels with Romaunce Books, under the pen name Kate Zarrelli. The Maiden of Florence was shortlisted for the Historical Writers’Association Gold Crown award in 2025 and has also been published in Italian.
Katherine’s short fiction has been published in journals worldwide. She has in addition published academically in the field of 19th century ephemeral illustrated fiction, and in management theory. She has been awarded competitive residencies by the Irish Writers Centre, the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators and (to come) the Latvian Writers House.
Katherine also works as a manuscript assessor and as a reader and judge for an international short story and novel competition. She has in the past been a management consultant, translator, museum curator, library assistant, lecturer in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder member.
She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for the Historical Novel Review. She is lead organiser for the Historical Novel Society 2026 Conference in Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
Katherine has a first degree in History of Art from UEA, an M.Litt. in Eng. Lit. from Durham and a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church.
