Light and Shadow
In 1890, On the eve of presenting the first motion picture camera to the world, seven years before the Lumière brothers, its inventor, Augustin Le Prince, stepped onto a train from Dijon to Paris and vanished without a trace. As his family searched for answers, his disappearance became one of cinema’s greatest mysteries.
About Light and Shadow
Augustin Le Prince had begun his motion picture experiments in the early 1880s in New York. Concerned that Edison’s spies were monitoring his experiments, Le Prince left his family there to work in relative privacy in England. In 1888, he filmed the world’s first moving picture in a garden in Leeds.
Two years later, after his experiments had strained both his finances and his marriage, Le Prince was finally ready to present his invention to some of Gilded Age New York’s most illustrious patrons, securing his place in film history. First, however, he had to persuade his brother to settle their late mother’s estate to help relieve him of the crushing debts he had not dared reveal to his family. But just before sailing to New York, Le Prince boarded a train in Dijon and was never seen again.
His family and friends made concerted efforts to find him, but their searches yielded nothing. Had Le Prince chosen to disappear in order to conceal secrets he was hiding, or was something more sinister at work?
Roundhay Garden Scene, 14 October 1888
Meet Laurel Avery
Laurel Avery, author of Light and Shadow, is a dress historian and former museum educator. A native New Yorker with a love for historical detail, she has lived in Europe for over two decades.
She spent eight years researching and writing the book, consulting with the foremost authorities on Le Prince. She traveled to France, Leeds, and New York to trace the footsteps of Le Prince from his youth to his mysterious disappearance in Paris.
Although the novel is a work of historical fiction, it is based on known facts about Le Prince's life and work.
Laurel currently lives in the Netherlands, where she can often be spotted in Edwardian dress, soon to be accompanied by dachshunds.
Book Events
Light and Shadow will be published by The Book Guild in October 2026. Join Laurel at upcoming signings and talks to learn more about Augustin Le Prince and his mysterious disappearance.
Signings
Meet Laurel in person and get your copy of Light and Shadow signed.
Talks
Hear the story behind Augustin Le Prince and engage in Q&A sessions with Laurel.
