When the things she left bubbling back home begin to boil over, and Parisian delicacies beyond flaky pâtisseries tempt her better judgment, April knows that both she and Marthe deserve happy finales.

Having left behind in the States a cheating husband, a family crisis about to erupt, and a career she's been using as the crutch to simply get by, she feels compelled to sort out her own life too. As she digs into Marthe's life, April can't help but take a deeper look into her own. With the help of a salty (and annoyingly sexy) Parisian solicitor and the courtesan's private diaries, April tries to uncover the many secrets buried in the apartment. It's about discovering two women, actually. It's about discovering the story behind this charismatic woman. Suddenly April's quest is no longer about the bureaux plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auction. These documents reveal that she was more than a renowned courtesan with enviable decolletage. And then there are letters and journals written by the very woman in the painting, Marthe de Florian. First, there's a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque, Giovanni Boldini. Beneath the cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine, and not because of the actual gold (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). Once in France, April quickly learns the apartment is not merely some rich hoarder's repository. When April Vogt's boss tells her about an apartment in the ninth arrondissement that has been discovered after being shuttered for the past seventy years, the Sotheby's continental furniture specialist does not hear the words “dust” or “rats” or “decrepit.” She hears Paris.

A paris apartment by michelle gable