When April Vogt's boss tells her about an apartment in the ninth arrondissement
that has been discovered after being shuttered for the past seventy years, the S
otheby's continental furniture specialist does not hear the words "dust" or "rat
s" or "decrepit." She hears Paris. She hears escape.
Once in France, April quic
kly learns the apartment is not merely some rich hoarder's repository. Beneath t
he cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine, and not because of the actual g
old (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). Fir
st, there's a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque, Giovanni Boldi
ni. And then there are letters and journals written by the very woman in the pai
nting, Marthe de Florian. These documents reveal that she was more than a renown
ed courtesan with enviable decolletage. Suddenly April's quest is no longer abou
t the bureaux plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auctio
n. It's about discovering the story behind this charismatic woman.
With the hel
p of a salty (and annoyingly sexy) Parisian solicitor and the courtesan's privat
e diaries, April tries to uncover the many secrets buried in the apartment. As s
he digs into Marthe's life, April can't help but take a deeper look into her own
. Based on real events, Michelle Gable's A Paris Apartment will entertain and in
spire, as readers embrace the struggles and successes of two very unforgettable
women.
