Today is the publishing date of Paris Blue, a new memoir by Julie Scolnik, and Julie has generously gifted two copies of the book for Eye Prefer Paris readers. The second and fifth person to comment on this post will receive a copy of the book. (Your mailing address must be in the continental U.S. to be eligible). Subscribers, click on "Book Giveaway- Paris Blue, A New Memoir by Julie Scolnik" on the email you receive, which will take you to https://www.ipreferparis.net/ where you can leave a comment on the bottom.
Paris Blue is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through all independent booksellers. All info at www.JulieScolnik.com. Here is a 1-minute book trailer.
Synopsis
PARIS, 1976: Twenty-year-old American student Julie Scolnik had just arrived in the City of Light to study the flute when, from across a sea of faces in the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, she is drawn to Luc, a striking (married) French lawyer in the bass section. This moving tale of an ebullient young American and a reserved Frenchman will transport readers to the cafés, streets, and concert halls of Paris in the late seventies, and, spanning three decades, evolves from deep romance to sudden heartbreak, and finally to a lifelong quest for answers to release hidden immutable grief.
Against a magical backdrop of Paris and classical music, Paris Blue is true fairy-tale memoir (with a dark underbelly) about the tenacious grip of first love.
A few praises from other authors:
“Not every true story is like a good novel, but this one is. Not every memoir of first love has a satisfying ending, but this one does. The confluence of first love with becoming an artist makes this memoir special.” John Irving
“Julie Scolnik’s beautiful page turner of a memoir captures with beauty and rare insight the power of music, words, and Paris to drive love to madness. To read her pitch perfect writing is to relive the exhilarations and vulnerabilities of one’s twenties.” — Judith Coffin, author of Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir
"Paris Blue gives melody to our common fancy: that Paris is where all great romances play out. Julie Scolnik’s memoir, recalling for us the myopia of innocence, returns us to our own first loves while establishing itself as a riveting tale both unique and universal.” —Gregory Maguire, novelist, and author of Wicked
“Paris Blue, Julie Scolnik’s memoir of first love in Paris, is written with the tender romanticism of Wordsworth and the devastating realism of Flaubert. Her lyrical writing about music transforms these discordant halves into a compelling whole, creating a dazzling love letter to a life lived in music.” Linda Katherine Cutting, author of Memory Slips
“The haunting impact of our first true and deep love stays with us the remainder of our lives, and all of us struggle in some way to put those emotions - the exultation, the revelries of passion and belonging, and the ultimate scars of loss - into a workable context. This book explores the process, including the barriers, the relapses and the ultimate conclusion that one's life needs to find its own forms.” Greg Fields, author of Arc of the Comet and Through the Waters and the Wild
"Paris Blue could speak to anyone who's ever yearned for closure that never came. But Julie Scolnik's memoir doesn't simply try to make sense of a bewildering romance; through telling the story she manages to bless the past, in all its complexity, while giving herself fully to the present. - Leah Hager Cohen, author of Strangers and Cousins and The Grief of Others
“Nothing burns hotter than young love, and Julie Scolnik captures that singular fervor in ‘Paris Blue.’ But her memoir is more than that: it’s a deeply felt, bittersweet reflection on how youthful passion changes you and clings to you, forever.” Howard Reich, author “The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel”
Julie Scolnik's memoir, Paris Blue, brings full spectrum color to a love affair with Paris, music, and a man whose limited vision couldn't keep her from shining. Filled with sensuousness, sound, and light, as well as the hard edge of truth, this story of first love grips the reader tight. —Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings
