This is a
Lesbian novel. Paris in the springtime is the backdrop for this story. G.B. one of the main characters, is the
mastermind behind the scheme to steal one of Monet’s famous paintings, with the
help of an “aging quartet of French feminists” and her artist/lover. Adding more mayhem in the midst of this
scheming, G.B. undertakes the writing of a book that ultimately becomes her
undoing.

Truthfully,
this was a difficult book to engage me as an avid reader. While I have had the privilege and pleasure
to travel to Paris on vacation, I was put off by the author’s assumption that
the average reader would know enough of the French language to understand the
references to the places she mentions and of the phrases used throughout the
book. I felt frustrated weeding through
what felt like a “forced tour” of Paris to focus on the story.

G.B. is not
a very likable character. She is a very egotistical intellect and a fraud. She spends most of her time convincing
others that she is in charge, a persona she seems to have come bay honestly
through her childhood. Does the saying
what goes around, comes around, mean anything? 
This is a lesson she learns the hard way.

Simone, the artist/lover, becomes
the default heroine. She is depicted as “fragile” and not intelligent enough to
hold a “real” conversation with anyone that may have more education then she
does. The irony comes into play when
Simone is the one the real key to the success of the “caper”. Of course, this detail is downplayed in a
way to further her persona of “spoiled little rich girl”. She is also the one
that in the end finds more of who she is and what she wants in her life, more than
anyone has given her credit for.

The last 2
chapters redeem the entire book and put everything, to include everyone into
true perspective. That alone is worth
the read. As a Lesbian novel, it is neither the best I have read, nor the
worst. It is not necessarily a book I
would recommend unless of course someone was looking for a book with surprise
endings.

© 2002 Susan K. Wingate

Susan Wingate is currently working in
personnel management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. She has worked for twelve years as a chemical dependency counselor
for adolescents, as well as having worked with survivors of domestic violence
and sexual abuse. Her passion is to be a vehicle for creating awareness for
self and others.

Categories: Fiction