Playful, poetic, and unexpectedly intense.
Leyse charts the emotional fallout of first love in Paris in his playful novel. Three twenty-somethings, William, Christina, and Pascale, land in Paris for six unfiltered weeks of rooftop parties, cemetery crawls, and wine-soaked debates with their bohemian French friends. On a seemingly carefree night, William meets the enigmatic Genevieve. What begins as a flirtation quickly deepens into an intense, all-consuming connection. Enter Baptiste, Genevieve’s longtime friend, who refuses to accept her new love. Soon, William and Genevieve’s story takes a darker turn.
Leyse’s prose fizzes with life, weaving together the recklessness of youth, the allure of Paris after dark, and the headlong plunge into new love. He avoids melodrama in favor of something more grounded: love as something worth defending, even when it’s messy. The novel leans hard into its theatrical dialogue and romanticized friendships, with pages of banter that border on performance art. But there’s real feeling beneath the clever lines. The conclusion feels earned.
An emotionally astute, theatrically written novel about love unguarded, friendship unshaken, and youth unfiltered.
Pub date May 16, 2011
ISBN 978-0982171059
Price $15.95 (USD) Paperback, $0.99 Kindle edition
