Parisian Promises

Paris, 1973: In the midst of a turbulent period of student unrest, political protest, and terrorist threats, Monica, a naïve and idealistic American college student, arrives in Paris eager to live out her rose-colored dreams. Along with her three friends, Monica soon discovers a Paris not pictured in guidebooks or dreamy black-and-white photographs–a place both seductive and dangerous. The young women, who each dreamed of love at first sight, instead find themselves in a complex tangle of temptation, sex, love, and betrayal. In a city famed for its beauty, the friends soon lose sight of their moral compasses, and discover the seamy side of the Parisian adventure. Monica’s passionate involvement with two men puts her in grave danger. Velástegui spins a provocative and mesmerizing tale about the loss of innocence, the allure of desire, the power of both betrayal and redemption, and the danger in romanticizing the most loved and iconic of cities–Paris.