What would you risk for the love of a stranger?
Ilyse Charpentier, a beautiful young chanteuse, is the diva of the 1894 Parisian cabaret scene by night and the unwilling obsession of her patron, Count Sergei Rakmanovich, at every other waking moment.
Though it has always been her secret desire, Ilyse’s life as “La Petite Coquette” of the Paris stage has turned out to be anything but the glamorous existence she had dreamt of as a girl. As a young woman, Ilyse has already suffered tragedy and become estranged from her beloved brother, Maurice, who blames her for allowing the Count to drive them apart.
Unhappy and alone, Ilyse forces herself to banish all thoughts of independence until the night Ian McCarthy waltzes into her life. Immediately taken with the bold, young, British expatriate, Ilyse knows it is time to choose: will she break free and follow her heart or will she remain a slave to her patron’s jealous wrath for the rest of her life?
Check out the excerpt here.
Backstory article about how I became a writer
and what Inspired City of Lights
It all started with a
song…and Gandalf…
I had never considered turning
writing into a career until I read Crime and Punishment when I was a
senior in high school. There was just something about that book and the
way Dostoevsky “painted with words” that inspired me and made me seriously
think about becoming a storyteller. But the real impetus behind my decision
came from an elderly wizard with a tall, pointy hat and a long grey beard.
Gandalf and I go way back. It was as
I was sitting in a darkened theater in the winter of 2001, my mind totally
enthralled by the genius of The Fellowship of the Ring, that I decided
what to do with the time that was given to me.
But before I dive into that, how
about a little backstory? My love for writing grew out of an early love for
reading. I think what led me to this point was that my mother started
reading to me when I was in the womb, and my father told me wild,
not-exactly-verifiable tall tales while I was still in the cradle. I
remember writing little stories and vignettes when I was a very young child and
also staging my first play (an adaptation of King of Kings) when I was
eight years old. The budget was nonexistent, so my family was conscripted
into the production, with my dad and mom playing six parts each. I think
that was when the writing bug first reared its head and bit me squarely on the
heart. I felt a little like Cecil B. DeMille after that. There is a VHS
of the play floating around somewhere. It is one of my first memories of
writing.
One turning point I can recall was
when I was about eleven or twelve. I wrote a very short story along the
lines of Jurassic Park. It was about a brother and sister being
chased to the edge of a cliff by a T-Rex. The kids gave the Rex the old
“one-two-jump!” fake out and the dinosaur tumbled over the cliff. End of
story—happily ever after for everyone except the Rex. But the point was that it
was fun! I had actually finished something I’d set out to write! It was great,
even though it was only six pages long! You have to start somewhere, right?
Two
years later, I decided to write my first novel. I
began with a lot of enthusiasm, but soon abandoned the book for school, life,
and other projects. In case you were wondering, I finally broke that manuscript
out of the attic last July and have since been totally transforming it into a
dystopian epic set in a brutal and lawless world. Look for it to be released in
the next couple of years. But back to when I was fourteen…though I had set my
first novel aside, that gnawing urge to write refused to be ignored. The thing
that began to stand out more and more to me as the years wore on, and what I
think was the real reason why I truly loved writing so much, was the freedom it
gave me to be able to get lost in a different world. I loved creating
characters and their individual stories. Everything that a person
experiences in his or her life affects the person they become and how they
react to situations, so being able to explore this with my characters was
something I couldn’t wait to do—uncovering what motivates them, what drives
their worldview, why they would make a decision in a particular situation, what
makes them tick, etc. And how thrilling would it be when characters developed
so fully that they essentially started to write the stories themselves? I
wanted to find out!
All these emotions and dreams
coalesced into a burning ball of clarity as I sat there watching Gandalf speak
that iconic line to Frodo. I was on fire after that, wanting to get started
immediately, but college and life intervened, once again, and my idea for a
novel about a young singer who took the Paris stage by storm in the late 1800s
lay dormant for about a year. One night in December 2002, however, I was
puttering around in my room when I suddenly started singing verses of a song I
had made up in that moment.
“Tonight’s the last time that I’ll see your face, my love.
This dreadful moment has finally come to be. Tonight the passion ends for you
and me, my love. I’m traveling to a place where life will be hell for
me…good-bye.”
My mind exploded with questions. Who
was this girl? Why was she being forced to give up her love? Why would her life
be so awful?
From that song, City of Lights:
The Trials and Triumphs of Ilyse Charpentier was born. The song became Tonight,
the lyrics directly inspiring the novel and making their way into a pivotal
scene toward the end of the book. Now, the only thing remaining was a setting.
I’m a singer, a Francophile, and a devotee of fin de siècle culture and
literature, so the idea of Paris, a cabaret, forbidden love, and the added
tension arising from my heroine being estranged from her brother (her only
living relative) was too exciting not to pursue.
My grand plan all along was (and
still is) for City of Lights to be a musical. In addition to Tonight,
I wrote eight other songs that inspired further chapters and the overall story
arc, the lyrics of those songs also being adapted into dialogue and scenes.
Even though the musical is still on the distant horizon, the spirit of the
songs thread through the entire novel. And in case you were wondering, the
recordings are securely stored in an undisclosed location, waiting for the day
when they will see the light once again. ;)
In May 2003, at the age of eighteen,
I began writing Ilyse’s story. Eight months later, City of Lights was
complete, and another four years later, it was published. Now, it has been
given a totally new look and is making its second edition debut.
Come along and lose yourself in the
story. Like Ilyse, I hope you, too, will always believe in the magic of the City
of Lights.
About the author:
I have been an author since the age of fourteen and write Young/New Adult historical romance, suspense, supernatural/paranormal thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, short stories, novellas—you name it, I write it! I am also a classically trained soprano/violinist/pianist and have been performing since the age of three. Additionally, I hold a BA in Management and an MBA in Marketing.
If I had not decided to become a writer, I would have become a marine biologist, but after countless years spent watching Shark Week, I realized I am very attached to my arms and legs and would rather write sharks into my stories than get up close and personal with those toothy wonders.
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