Book Review
Parisian Promises
by Cecilia Velástegui
By John E. Roper
"She'd learned from witnessing her mother's beatings that it was best to agree with every accusation and to
apologize for any perceived crimes. Otherwise things only got worse."
T
he romantic movies
Hollywood produced in the
middle of the twentieth
century forever warped
America’s perception of
Europe. Additionally, photojournalist
Robert Doisneau contributed to the
mythos with his black-and-white
shots that captured only select
aspects of Parisian life. His famous
Le baiser de l’hotel de ville (Kiss by
the Town Hall) of 1950 only
enhanced the French capital’s
reputation as “The City of Love.”
But what the starry-eyed travelers
from the U.S. during the late 60s and
early 70s were often unaware of was
that the social turbulence that was
shaking up America during the time
period was also reverberating in
places like France as well, and that
life beyond the facades of the
tourist traps was often anything
but romantic.
Award-winning author Cecilia
Velástegui turns her attention in her
latest novel to the years shortly
after the Paris student riots of
1968 and to a time when the civil
unrest that led to the violence still
simmers. It is 1973, and Monica,
Lola, Karen, and Annie, four young
coeds from America, have come
ostensibly to study for a year in
France. However, like countless
exchange students before them, they
also dream of new adventures, new
lives, and perhaps a chance at true
love. Monica, F