Montparnasse by Thierry Sagnier (2019) Apprentice House

Life for the artists and expatriates at the end of The Great War, living and loving in Paris.  The next time I visit Paris, I must go to Montparnasse and see if I can drink up half as much atmosphere as abounds in Thierry’s masterful rendition. 

He paints a vivid portrait of how amazing and complex a time it was to be in Paris.  It was a new beginning for the country after the war was over. And it was a terribly sad time, so many people faced terrible losses of life and limb. 

We see this through the eyes of American’s who have chosen to stay; a strong woman who cajoles her husband into staying, resulting in his becoming rich and possibly in each of them finding their own way to live and love, and through the eyes of a serial killer, who lures war widows for their money.  And through the landscape of the artists who lived in Montparnasse at the time.

This novel affects me both as a reader, drinking up the beautiful language and story, and as a writer.  I’m encouraged to follow Thierry’s/M. Renoir’s advice and write every day, even if it to describe a lemon, in its myriad aspects.