Gable's The Paris Apartment is her first novel. From her Q & A with Nicole Meier:
Congratulations on the release of A Paris Apartment. For those who aren’t familiar, can you shed light on the real-life apartment that inspired your novel?Visit Michelle Gable's website.
Thank you! The real-life story is a captivating one. In 1940, as Paris fell to the Germans, a young woman locked her apartment, fled to the south of France, and never returned. When she passed away in 2010, the apartment and its news-making contents were discovered.
The amazing home was filled, floor to rafters, with the most exquisite pieces of art and furniture imaginable. One painting, rendered by famed portraitist Giovanni Boldini, sold for over €2 million at auction. The portrait was of the woman’s grandmother, Belle Époque courtesan Marthe de Florian.
In the book, it’s impossible not to feel April Vogt’s excitement as she uncovers the apartment’s treasures, specifically the Boldini painting. Are you also an art history enthusiast?
Not to the extent that April is given her multiple art history degrees! The conventional wisdom is “write what you know” but I believe it’s “write what...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: A Paris Apartment.
My Book, The Movie: A Paris Apartment.
--Marshal Zeringue