Elizabeth Thompson

"Hannah Bond has always been a bookworm, which is why she fled Florida - and her unstable, alcoholic mother - for a quiet life leading Jane Austen-themed tours through the British countryside. But on New Year's Eve, everything comes crashing down when she arrives back at her London flat to find her mother, Marla, waiting for her. Marla's brought two things with her: a black eye from her ex-boyfriend and an envelope. Its contents? The deed to an apartment in Paris, an old key, and newspaper clippings about the death of a famous writer named Andres Armand. Hannah, wary of her mother's motives, reluctantly agrees to accompany her to Paris, where against all odds, they discover great-grandma Ivy's apartment frozen in 1940 and covered in dust. Inside the apartment, Hannah and Marla discover mysterious clues about Ivy's life - including a diary detailing evenings of drinking and dancing with Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and other iconic expats. Outside, they retrace her steps through the city in an attempt to understand why she went to such great lengths to hide her Paris identity from future generations."--Provided by publisher.