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An author always looks for an angle when writing fiction which Beaupré has done with this novel. He came up with revenants or ghosts for all of his characters as a way of weaving the story together without making it a documentary of Rosa Bonheur’s life and paintings of animals. The author has conjured the likes of a Mozart, a Cervantes and Sir Walter Scott while including other creative artists that influenced Rosa Bonheur. He has also incorporated the descriptions of the Bonheur paintings by herself, the artist, and by her close friend, Anna Klumpke. He has created what he calls a singular novel in that it is not all fiction but an amalgamation of biography, art history and some fiction to make it a creatively cohesive work. The author even intrudes into his work to give it a personal and lively touch.

Norman Beaupré, Ph.D. was born in Maine and pursued his graduate education at Brown University. He taught over thirty years at the University of New England in Maine where he is presently Professor Emeritus. He has traveled extensively and spent two sabbaticals in Paris. He has written and published twenty-one books in English and in French. In 2008, he was awarded the medal of “Ordre des Arts et Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications in Paris for his outstanding contribution to French culture.