Cover of Twilight

Twilight

In Twilight, award-winning novelist and poet Katherine Mosby weaves the unforgettable story of a woman's sexual and political awakening, in Paris, on the verge of World War II. Mosby, whose prose Time called "rich and accomplished," evokes in Twilighta complex moment in history seen through the prism of a poignant love story.

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By breaking off her engagement to an emotionally remote fiance, Lavinia Gibbs avoids a stifling marriage — but outrages her socially prominent family, who fear she has consigned herself to spinsterhood. Instead she sails for Europe to begin the process of rebuilding her life. Ever practical, Lavinia makes a new home in Paris, where she determines she needs more than beautiful architecture and entree with the expats to make a full life. Lavinia wisely adds into the mix a pug and employment, but it is not until she meets the charming, enigmatic, and long-married Gaston Lesseur that she begins an extraordinary journey of self-discovery and sacrifice that will change her irrevocably.

With luminous prose, Mosby examines the emotional landscape of adultery while creating a powerful yet poignant depiction of a woman's unlikely blossoming. Unlike Flaubert's Madame Bovary, for whom adultery provided escape from an unfulfilling marriage, Lavinia Gibbs longs for the domestic and the luxury of the quotidian in an increasingly precarious world. Mosby creates in Twilighta story that will resonate with readers long after they have finished this book.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 291 pages

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