Rousseau's Garden

Ann Charney

Véhicule Press, 2001 - Fiction - 206 pages

A crisp March morning in the Buttes-Chaumont park in Paris. Claire, waiting to meet her husband, Adrian, has more than a tourist's passing interest in the place. She has come to France to be with Adrian while he researches a book on French gardens, but Claire's real mission is to find out what happened to her mother, Dolly, during her last stay in Paris. A promising sculptor and ardent admirer of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dolly suffered a mysterious decline following her return home from the City of Light. Now severe panic attacks are forcing Claire to abandon her own work as a photographer. Is she repeating her mother's pattern? The answer, Claire believes, lies in the past. Claire retraces Dolly's footsteps in Paris and in the nearby countryside, where Rousseau's spirit is still discernable. Claire's quest in France is filled with more than one startling discovery as she, Adrian, and their friends, navigate the tricky terrain of marriage, parenthood, friendship, and love.

Contents

• Section 1: 7
• Section 2: 22
• Section 3: 29

About the author

Ann Charney was born in Poland & educated at McGill University & the Sorbonne in Paris. She lives in Montreal, Canada. A novelist, short story writer & journalist, she has received awards both for her fiction & nonfiction, including two National Magazine Awards, the Chatelaine Fiction Prize, & the Canadian Author's Association Prize. Her short stories have appeared in "Ms. Magazine", "Paris Transcontinental", "Saturday Night", "Descant", "The Canadian Forum", "The Queen Quarterly" & others. Her nonfiction has appeared in leading Canadian & U.S. magazines; it has been selected for inclusion in "Best Canadian Essays" & the "Utne Review". She has been a political columnist for "McLean's" & a book reviewer for "The Toronto Star", "The Globe & Mail", "The Gazette", "Books in Canada", & "The London Times Book Review".

Bibliographic information

• Title: Rousseau's Garden
• Author: Ann Charney
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Véhicule Press, 2001
• ISBN: 1550651463, 9781550651461
• Length: 206 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / City Life; Fiction / Erotica / General; Fiction / General; Fiction / Psychological