A Paris Apartment

by Michelle Gable

When April Vogt's boss tells her about the discoveries in a cramped, decrepit ninth arrondissement apartment, the Sotheby's continental furniture specialist does not hear the words "dust" or "rats" or "shuttered for seventy years." She hears Paris. She hears escape. Once in France, April quickly learns the apartment is not merely some rich hoarder's repository. Beneath the dust and cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine and not because of the actual gold (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). First, there's a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque. And then there are letters and journals written by the woman in the painting, documents showing she was more than a renowned courtesan with enviable decolletage. Suddenly it's no longer about the bureau plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auction. It's about a life. Two lives, actually. With the help of a salty (and annoyingly sexy) Parisian solicitor and the courtesan's private documents, April tries to uncover the secrets buried in the apartment. As she digs into one woman's life, April can't help but take a deeper look into her own.
When the two things she left bubbling back in the States begin to boil over, April starts to wonder whether she'll ever find-in the apartment, or in her life - just what she's looking for.

• ISBN10: 1466849622
• ISBN13: 9781466849624
• Publish Date: 22 April 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Thomas Dunne Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lianne]

I received a copy of this book as part of a book blog tour that I participated in. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/10/08/review-a-paris-apartment-excerpt-giveaway/

A Paris Apartment was an interesting read. I really enjoyed reading about the work that furniture specialists do; it’s a different way of handling history, handling objects from the past. It was also interesting to learn how this job reflects April’s values and interests, especially as the reader learns more about the protagonist over the course of the novel. The setting adds to the nature of the job as well as the overall storyline; Paris of course is always a lovely place to set a story, and here it and the Belle Epoque time period is used to its full effect, complete with Parisian society and culture.

The historical storyline with Marthe was interesting enough, complete with familiar artists and historical characters mentioned throughout; Marthe obviously came from a very difficult childhood, and her induction into the world of the courtesan enabled her to travel through different social circles in Paris and become embroiled in all sorts of drama.

I found April’s storyline the more interesting of the two. I found myself strangely intrigued despite the fact that April is hanging on by a thread with all of the problems in her life. I thought her marriage to Troy didn’t make a whole lot of sense, though was oddly compelled to keep reading; granted, the reader is thrown into the middle of a growing distance between Troy and April, but I just couldn’t figure out how they ended up together in the first place. Nonetheless, I liked that the conflict was handled in a mature manner, showing the complexities of emotions and details about relationships. Meanwhie, I also enjoyed the banter between April and Luc throughout the novel, which was also curious considering he came off like such a…err, jerk.

Overall, I enjoyed reading A Paris Apartment: it piques your interest at the beginning and the character interaction throughout keeps you rather glued to the book. Readers who enjoy novels set in France and the Belle Epoque and who enjoy history and handling the antiquities may want to check out this novel.

Rating: 3.5/5