They always tell the story wrong. There was no wicked fairy, no thieving father or nagging mother, nobody locked in a tower, and certainly no heroic, handsome prince. I do have nice hair, though. They got that part right, at least. The villain of this story… Read more »
Prince Charming was kidnapped on a Tuesday. Cinderella was sitting in the solar with her step-sisters, sewing the final beads onto her wedding dress, when the messenger burst in, red-faced and breathless. He fell to the floor at her feet, in a posture of desperation. “The Prince has been taken!”… Read more »
It was Christmas Eve, and Elaine was not having fun. First, her favourite toyshop down in the Rue de Turenne had sold out of the puzzle she had wanted to get her niece for Christmas, and she had been forced to buy the doll instead. Her niece was ten,… Read more »
There are so many things I want to say to you. I want to tell you how beautiful you are, how I love the shape of your nose, the curve of your eyebrow, that crooked, swift smile that crosses your face when you are amused by something. I love that… Read more »
May, 1871 San Sebastián, Spain For Léon Gambetta, San Sebastián is less a place of exile than one of convalescence. He is exhausted in body and sick in soul, but San Sebastián, with its horsehoe-shaped bay and golden beaches is pleasing to the eye, almost idyllic. Too, the news… Read more »
Anyone can summon the Père Lachaise. All you have to do is go to the oldest grave in the cemetery, and place a rock there, and a sprig of a herb – a wild herb, or a weed plucked from the side of the road is enough, it doesn’t have… Read more »
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting in her 18th century history class, and of having nothing to do but listen while the teacher droned on. Once or twice she had peeped into her history book, but it had no pictures or primary sources in it, only dates… Read more »
Marya could not get out of the habit of talking to Pierre. Their conversation had spanned more than eleven years, after all – eleven years of sharing everything, their work and their passions so entwined with their domestic life that they could hardly be disentangled. In their bed at night,… Read more »
It was a sunny Friday in late summer, and Elaine had taken the day off work so that she could spend the afternoon at the zoo with her nephew while her sister rested. Nadine was in the late stages of pregnancy, and was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up… Read more »
There’s one thing you need to know before we go any further: if I marry you, you don’t get to take pieces out of my brain. I know that a silver brain sounds like one hell of a dowry. That’s because it is – I have an excellent brain, and… Read more »