First published 2017
Nathan watches a heated argument explode between a young French woman and her boyfriend on a Paris street. The artist has been struggling with criticism that his work lacks emotional depth despite his technical skill. He pursues the woman, drawn by her striking beauty and fierce energy. She invites him to her family's decaying countryside chateau to sketch her. Nathan accepts, sensing both danger and opportunity in the proposition. At the isolated estate, he encounters her volatile mother, a former ballerina with an insatiable appetite for life. Her father conducts mysterious business dealings while her uncle may be involved in art forgery schemes. Nathan finds himself trapped in a web of family secrets and raw desires. The woman's provocative nature ignites something in his art, but the price of inspiration may be higher than he anticipated. As tensions build within the crumbling walls, Nathan must navigate the dangerous currents of passion and deception that threaten to consume him.
Genres: fiction, art, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Chateau, Paris, Countryside
Period: Contemporary
256 pages · Paperback · Catapult