Matilde Anselm, professor of cardiac anesthesiology, arrives in Paris from New York to be part of a surgery team in the winter of 1990, as manifestations against the First Gulf War are raging in the streets.

Even as her concerns mount over the shadowy protocols surrounding the planned heart transplant, and even as she falls in love with the Arab diplomat in charge of those protocols, a surprise inheritance—a mysterious Paris apartment and a trove of love letters from the Spanish Civil War, bequeathed to her by a stranger—sweep her through a hidden Paris and into the labyrinth of her own buried past.

As the diplomat and the apartment reluctantly reveal their secrets, the tragedies they unearth open a further mystery, the enigma that has haunted Matilde’s life. In the end she is left devastated, liberated, and, for the very first time, herself.

Paris Twilight grapples with the meaning of love, the sin of suicide, and the mystery of family in a masterful fiction debut, a dizzying tale of personal transformation.

Customer Review

This book is one of those that grabs you and holds on to you until the very end. I am an avid fiction reader, and what I most enjoy in a good work of fiction is something that gives that rare experience of feeling that you are actually inside the world of the book. Paris Twilight does that, and more.

At one point, I was so immersed in the book that when I had to put it down to head out to run some errands, I grabbed an umbrella on my way out the door. It was only once I was downstairs on the sidewalk that I realized it was completely beautiful weather outside--it was in Paris Twilight where rain was falling!

But it's more than just the mood and the immersion that captivated me. The thing about this book is that it grabs you and delights you on every level:
 •  The plot is intricately woven such that its complications do not distract from the pull of the story, but rather enhance it. And the mysteries are unfolded in such a way that I didn't feel it was about guessing or "figuring out" what was happening, but more about experiencing it.
 • The characters are distinct, memorable, and compelling, without become caricatures. Each has his or her own voice in the story, and Matilde as the narrator and central character, reveals them to the reader as she herself discovers who they are.
 • The settings are so richly described, that I felt I was there. Details about mood, sights, smells, sounds, and weather (see above!) create a sense of immersion into this novel's universe.
 • The science is credible and engaging. The writing doesn't shy away from its complexity, tying it closely to the characters' own complexity so that regardless of your own level of understanding, its presence makes sense.
 • And then, my personal favorite--the sentences. Russ Rymer's sentences are beautiful works of art. Over and over again, I found myself relishing their structure, and their pure musicality. There are many, many paragraphs where the rhythm of the writing alone gave me goosebumps.

I would say more about the plot, but I don't want to give anything away. What I can say is that you will not regret reading this book.—J. Gobell *Five Stars!*