Paula J. Martin. Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-Century France, Farnham: Ashgate, 2014. Pp. ix + 157. £65. ISBN 978 1 4724 1188 4.
Once in a while you have a chance to read the book you would have liked to have written yourself. This was the case for me when I read Martin's delightful biography of the French pioneer of cosmetic surgery and international feminist, Suzanne Noël. I first encountered this amazing, but under-recognised woman many years ago when I was doing research on the history of cosmetic surgery. I briefly played with the idea to paying tribute to this remarkable woman, but quickly gave up the idea of writing a book about her due to my lack of historical training and inability to read French. Fortunately, Martin has taken up the challenge and provided a well-documented and eminently readable account of Noël's life, work and feminism, drawing upon Noël's scholarly publications, including her important text La Chirurgie Esthétique as well as primary sources, newspaper clippings, and a large stack of handwritten letters that Noël wrote to her mother.1
Noël's life is noteworthy for several reasons.
