LETTERS FROM PARIS, a story set off by a single letter, which is more of a note, discovered in the box of a mask sent from Paris to a woman in New Orleans by her husband, Jerry Duval, who was stationed in Paris at the end of WW2. The mask is of an unknown woman popularly known as L'Innconue or the stranger in French language. The story is of the bride's granddaughter (Chance Broussard) who finds solace in the now cracked, almost broken mask she finds in Mammaw's attic. In her childhood to avoid the family bullies and loneliness Chance takes to hiding in the attic and talking to the mask for hours. By the time she leaves behind the small town and her childhood to achieve bigger things in life the mask is but a long lost friend for Chance. Years after moving to the big city Chance achieves success, money and a standard of living her small town folks wouldn't even dream of, but she still feels empty and lost.
As Mammaw is dying and summons Chance back to town, she discovers a bittersweet peace and happiness along with her old friend the mask in the attic back in the small town of her birth. Mammaw dies soon but not without taking a promise from Chance -- sending her to Paris to satisfy her curiosity about her mask friend. Chance sets off for Paris with nothing but the note and address in the mask box.
In the city of love and light, Chance is not off to a great start, a crappy room and halfhearted sightseeing soon frustrates her. Her first visit to the mask maker, the famous and legendary mask makers Lomabardi family's shop leaves her with no more than what she already knows and her encounter with the shop master leaves her more bewildered. Being an English speaking American things soon turn for Chance and she ends up temporarily working at the legendary mask maker's shop where she hopes to discover more about the woman of the mask.
What follows is a intriguing and heartbreaking revelation of who the woman behind the mask is. The parallel story of L'Innconue is well placed in the story and while the reader slowly learns her identity our heroine makes guesses and tries to piece together her story as patiently and lovingly as she does with her own life. It's a win win because as a reader we get two intricately woven together stories in one and the revelation of both set in Paris among its local beauty and French speaking hero is a tale which will remain with you for a while after you finish it.
If the touristy parts of Paris is what attracts the world and keeps them coming to the city in flocks all year, it is the local Paris through the eyes of its citizens which wins the readers heart. LETTERS FROM PARIS will make you want to know more secrets of Paris, of its long dead artists and the mysterious letters discovered through the times.
From the New York Times bestselling author of
The Paris Key comes the story of a mysterious work of
art and the woman inspired to uncover its history in the
City of Light.
After surviving the accident that took her motherβs life,
Claire Broussard has worked hard to escape her small
Louisiana hometown. But these days she feels something is
lacking. Abruptly leaving her lucrative job in Chicago,
Claire returns home to care for her ailing grandmother.
There, she unearths a beautiful piece of artwork that her
great-grandfather sent home from Paris after World War II.
At her grandmotherβs urging, Claire travels to Paris to
track down the century-old mask-making atelier where the
object, known only as βLβInconnueββor The Unknown Womanβwas
created. Under the watchful eye of a surly mask-maker,
Claire discovers a cache of letters that offers insight into
the life of the Belle Epoque woman immortalized in the work
of art. As Claire explores the unknown womanβs tragic fate,
she begins to unravel deeply buried secrets in her own life.
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