Maude Pichon ran away from her provincial home to Paris with big dreams, but her meager savings didn't last long. Desperate for work, she answers a strange ad. The Durandeau Agency offers a one of a kind service: beauty foils. Hire a plain or ugly friend and instantly stand out in the crowds of the Paris season. Maude is hired to play friend to the wealthy socialite Isabelle but, unlike most patrons of the agency, Isabelle doesn't know Maude is a foil. Maude must convince Isabelle to trust her and help her navigate her debut, but the closer Maude gets to her, the more her loyalty is tested and the more difficult the deception becomes. 
 I was really hoping to enjoy this more than I did. The premise of the beauty foil sounds super intriguing, but I never reached a point where I felt invested in the book. It was just a bit too slow for my own personal tastes. The historical touches are nice (the repoussiers are fictional, however, but inspired by a short story from the same time period) and setting the story against the construction of the Eiffel Tower tied everything together nicely.