Half-Blown Rose

"At forty-four, Vincent - the privileged daughter of artists - enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and she's even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal. Her husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about their marriage and his own past. Now estranged, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. They begin an intense affair, and somewhere between cigarettes smoked in the moonlight, hazy evenings in nightclubs, and long, starry walks along the Seine, Vincent feels herself blossoming. In a journey both transportive and intimate, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, travel, art, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships and romance, with playlists, journal entries, and Cillian's novel excerpts woven throughout. As Cillian does all he can to win her back, Vincent must decide what she wants... and who she will be"--