A Beast in Paradise

At the end of the book, I was left wondering who was the title beast? Alexander or Blanche? It was only in the days after as I continued to ponder that question that I stumbled across the original French title—as a novice student of French, I was struck by its gendered nature: Une Bête Au… Continue reading A Beast in Paradise

Stella

Sometimes historical fiction is faithful to the last details, and other times it relies on a kernel of truth to blossom into an enticing, though largely fabricated, narrative. Stella is solidly in the second camp. Based on the real-life Stella Kübler, a German Jewish woman who famously collaborated with the Gestapo during WWII to expose… Continue reading Stella