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“The Minotaur in Paris,” a new historical novel, coming soon!
Read More »Suspense, espionage, betrayal, and love, as darkness falls over the City of Light… Read here to see why this book had to be written. Enjoy a taste of the start of a dangerous adventure into the labyrinth…
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Paris, 1936. As clouds of war gather over Europe…
Read More »Behind its elegant façades Europe was a violent battlefield. Warmongers harangued against pacifists, fascists attacked socialists, workers fought for their rights. In March, Hitler defied all treaties, sending his troops into the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland. As the Luftwaffe swooped over Cologne, its citizens cheered, church bells rang, military bands played a song whose refrain […]
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…a courageous American photographer must choose between her heart and her country.
Read More »Adventurous, headstrong Ray Gordon ventures into forbidden territory, a camera her only weapon. Traumatized by her father’s death in World War I, she believes fiercely in pacifism. But as she roams Paris, documenting the misery of refugees fleeing from oppression in Germany, she realizes that she too must stand up and fight. What can a lone […]
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Welcome!
Welcome on a journey back in time, to the dark, dangerous, glamorous 1930s Paris... crossroads of culture; hunting ground of spies, villains and heroes; and — then as now — the most beautiful city on earth. I’m excited to share with you in my blog what I’m learning while writing this book. Thanks for visiting!
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Fascinated by the ’30s? Exhibits you must see!
Novel of a Wardrobe: A Chic Parisienne...through the Thirties. Plus, The Little Prince lands on planet New York. And a tormented Chagall in love, war, and exile.
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The Minotaur in Paris
My new novel is coming soon! Love, suspense, espionage, and betrayal, as darkness falls over the City of Light...
Paris 1936. A beautiful American photographer, armed only with her camera, ventures into a labyrinth of evil, betrayal, and espionage, and through love finds the courage to help awaken the world to the coming war.
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Discover 5 great memoirs about France in the Thirties
Great memoirs bring you into the heart of a life and a time. These five extraordinary books give you a five very different perspectives on a dramatic time.
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About me
Living abroad for 32 years — in Paris, London and Copenhagen — furnished me with enough experience of international intrigue, shady characters, and knuckle-biting plots to write a shelf full of thrillers. Now living in New York, finishing my third novel, the historical romantic thriller "The Minotaur in Paris."
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The diary that started it all…
On May 20, 1936, a young college girl boarded the SS Manhattan and, waving excitedly to her family on the pier, sailed out of New York harbor, bound for Paris. She was to spend eight months [...]
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Portfolio
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East of the Sun, West of the Moon: A work-in-progress
Myth, mist, and magic combine in a fairy tale for grown-up girls. Oh, will no one stop Sara Sonnenschein? Clouds sweep restlessly past the moon above the dragon-tailed tower as she stands shivering on a windy Copenhagen corner, wobbling on red high-heeled boots, on her way to meet yet […]
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East of the Sun, West of the Moon: Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Walpurgis Spring had come at last. High overhead, seagulls screeched and dove and floated on the wind, for the wind…the wind is always blowing in Denmark. Sometimes the lusty wind would billow her long coat behind her so fiercely that she felt it could carry her upward like a kite, up above the […]
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Video: A Weaver in Denmark
In 1970, I arrived in Denmark for a study-abroad semester. I fell in love and decided to stay. I apprenticed myself to a tapestry weaver, Jette Gemzoe, and after a year spread my wings and set up my own studio. This marked the start of an incredible creative breakthrough, a period of freedom and expansion. […]
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Wise words from 2 great writers
I wanted to share with you these quotes from 2 of my favorite writers. These quotes also form the epigraph of my work-in-progress, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon.” …Is it not a sweet thing to think that, if only you have patience, all that has ever been will come back to you? […]
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Kraka’s Paradox
The Story of Kraka and Ragnar Lodbrok by Barbara Bluestone Published in Parabola‘s “Imagination” issue, Vol 34/1 Imagination is a heroic trait in Norse lore, as seen in stories as diverse as the pranks of the trickster god Loki and this legend, adapted from Ragnar Lodbrog’s Saga, which tells how a young girl won the […]
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How to make everything easy
I once visited the Priory of Notre-Dame d’Orsan in the Loire Valley. Some years earlier, two young architects had left Paris and bought the medieval ruins set in a fertile farming landscape. Laboriously they renovated old stone buildings and created an extraordinary series of gardens inspired by the MIddle Ages. From the utiliarian kitchen garden, […]
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“Finishing Touch,” a mystery story
EXCERPT March 6, 1936 dawned cold on a quiet Paris. A brisk breeze churned the dark waters of the Seine as I hurried across the narrow Pont des Arts, hanging on to my fedora with one hand and buttoning my tweed coat with the other. Early mornings are not my café au lait – but […]
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Other People’s Words
For some years when I lived in Denmark, I worked as a translator. Viking ships, Bronze Age barrows, Greenland mummies, Renaissance castles, modern housing developments, pig farming –any book, article, or film that came my way was grist for my churning translation mill. Translator’s method Fueled by endless cups of coffee, I would plunge into […]
