Letters from Paris
Claire Broussard’s mother drives into a Louisiana bayou, taking her life and leaving Claire with a harrowing fear of water and drowning. Raised by her loving, wise grandmother, Claire grows up believing she can do anything to which she sets her mind and heart. However, after a successful career in computers, she walks away from her Chicago job to care for her dying grandmother and there recovers a mysterious, broken sculpture of a woman. This is the silent figure Claire spoke to during her childhood years. Now, she discovers the name of the sculpture is L’Inconnue, or “The Unknown Woman.”
This is the story of Claire’s trip to Paris to seek knowledge about the sculpture and its creator. There she finds the place where the sculpted woman was created and agrees to a temporary job with the descendant of the creator, a maker of molds of “death masks.” The story behind the mask is beyond any reader’s expectations and is told in between Claire’s unusual relationship with the cantankerous, enigmatic Armand and his gracious cousin, Giselle. Two romances filled with danger and mystique will bloom that will change the lives of many. The appeal of L’Inconnue is compared to that of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, with its whimsical, mysterious smile. The reader will learn a great deal about death-mask making, sculpting, mold-making whether from plaster or in chocolate (be prepared to drool with desire for French chocolate), as well as the tempestuous character of Parisian artists during the Belle Époque. Letters from Paris is a phenomenal, unusual work of historical fiction that this reviewer can’t praise highly enough – must reading!
