The Paris Novel

Stella wakes up, feeling unnerved by the disruption to her normal schedule. She’s led to the dining room by a servant, where she meets Jules for breakfast. Stella asks about a sculpture in his dining room, and Jules talks about his career as an art consultant.

Jean-Marie enters, scolding his father again. The two speak mostly in French, but Stella gleans that Jean-Marie thinks his father is pursuing Stella romantically. He remarks with disgust that Stella is young enough to be his granddaughter. When Jean-Marie leaves, Jules notes how his son has changed—his mother’s death affected him deeply, and soon after, he met his “awful” fiancée, Eugenie.

After breakfast, Jules and Stella return to the cathedral for a church service and then go to lunch. On the way, Jules talks more about Jean-Marie and how his wife’s death damaged their relationship. As they sit down to have lunch, Stella reflects on the music during the church service and how it makes her “hungry for the world” (103).

Stella returns to her hotel, and the receptionist informs her that they are now full and that her room has been booked. After asking around a number of hotels in Paris—all of which are full—Stella returns to Shakespeare and Company. George leaves Stella to watch the shop and his seven-year-old daughter, Lucie, while he runs an errand. He announces that Allen Ginsberg is coming to read that evening and asks Stella to bake gingerbread, so she and Lucie bake together. Stella realizes that she enjoys cooking and is proud of how the gingerbread turns out. George returns and, seeing her settled in with Lucie, offers Stella a place to sleep. Stella initially resists, insisting that she is not a Tumbleweed, but agrees to stay for the night since she no longer has a hotel. George tells her the “rules” that Tumbleweeds are expected to follow: help around the shop when needed, read one book a day, and write an autobiography before leaving.

Stella and Rachel set up for Ginsberg’s reading. Afterward, the group sits and talks, and George asks why Stella has come to Paris. When she mentions her mother’s will, George remarks that he knew Celia. Stella tells him that she never knew her father, and George insists that she try to find him.

Stella spends the night at the bookstore. She has plans to go to the Bibliotheque Nationale to research Victorine, but George sends her on an errand instead—James Baldwin is coming that evening, and they need saffron for a dish.

Stella goes to Chez le Marocain, where the owner gives her saffron from Kashmir, which he claims is the most expensive spice in the world. When Stella returns to the bookstore, Rachel and George are stunned that the owner gave her the Kashmiri saffron. James arrives and says that they need bread, so George sends Stella out again. James suggests that she take Lucie to show her the correct kind of bread to get. As they walk to the bakery, Stella tells Lucie the story of Victorine and about her mission to find the lost paintings. Lucie asks if she can help. They arrive back at the bookstore, where Stella meets another Tumbleweed named Patrick. He, Stella, and Lucie cook the asparagus while James himself makes aioli to go with it.

Later, James, George, and Stella talk about Celia—James also knew her and says that she was in love with a “beautiful chef” (126). He describes a night when Celia brought the chef to dinner at Richard Olney’s home and how the chemistry between the two men as they cooked was electric. James recalls that Celia became enraged, throwing food, and stormed out. He doesn’t remember the chef’s name, but George remarks that it could be Stella’s father. Stella becomes uncomfortable and says that she would rather not know for sure, but George insists that she talk to Richard to find out more.

Stella dreams about her father but brushes it off as a mere fantasy, reiterating that it is better not to know who her father is. She gets up, again set on her mission to learn more about Victorine. She receives a letter from Jules—a recommendation so that she can gain entry to a library typically reserved for scholars. At the Department des Etampes, she finds a biography on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; Stella initially feels excited since it mentions Victorine but finds a disheartening story about how Lautrec found her drunk in a dilapidated district in Paris, “old and utterly ruined, a trollop who had wasted her life” (134). Stella is shocked.

She leaves the library in search of a hotel but continues to find them all full. One hotel has availability in a week, so Stella resolves to stay at the bookstore a few days longer. When she returns to Shakespeare and Company, she tells the others what she discovered in the biography and says that she does not believe Lautrec’s account of Victorine. George asks her what she finds fascinating about Victorine, and Stella explains that men erased her work from history and that she wants to “give [Victorine] back her own story” (136).

Stella gets acclimated to life as a Tumbleweed and decides not to book a room in another hotel after all. When she returns to the library, the librarian asks about Stella’s research, and Stella tells her about Victorine and about how the male artists’ accounts of her seem untrustworthy. The librarian suggests figuring out when Victorine was born by checking baptismal records. She points Stella to the third arrondissement and provides a list of churches to visit.

Later at the bookstore, Stella tells George about her plan to visit the churches, and he urges her to bring Lucie. In the meantime, he asks Stella to make more gingerbread since John Ashbery is coming to read that evening. Stella takes joy in making a new recipe, adding new ingredients and realizing how much she enjoys cooking.

John arrives to read his poetry. When he finishes, he convinces Daniel to read some of his work as well. Reluctantly, Daniel reads part of the biography that George insists the Tumbleweeds write about finding home at Shakespeare and Company. Stella empathizes with his work and feels like she’s part of a community now that she’s a Tumbleweed. Daniel describes how coming to Shakespeare and Company felt like finding a family and says that Stella is “like the missing piece” (143). He describes her as a little sister—he feels a sense of protectiveness over her and wishes good things for her. He gently suggests that she should consider talking to Richard Olney and trying to find her father. Stella now feels more open to the idea and says that she will think about it.