Les Beaux Châteaux

Inspired by a headline about French bakeries shuttering, Les Beaux Châteaux is the story of a father and son who must learn a new way forward as traditional French life evolves.

Following the death of his wife, Frida, Victor’s relationship with his adult son Jean Paul (“JP”) is fractured. Their alienation is not an isolated family breakdown; French culture is re-forming from the grassroots up.

Knowing JP can’t stay in France with his curmudgeonly father, Victor proposes a joint business venture: a New York storefront managed by JP, selling beautiful, traditional French artifacts selected by himself. JP seizes the opportunity to leave Victor and Paris’s tourist culture, and Les Beaux Châteaux is born.

In New York’s Meatpacking District, JP is Les Beaux Châteaux’s hip manager. In France, shrewdly hunting for rarity, antiquity, and authentic beauty, Victor buys roof tiles, doors, and other functional pieces that represent all manner of French life. JP and Victor are as disconnected from each other as the store’s French sinks and hinges are from their original kitchens and doors. Operating on different continents suits their needs—until Victor has an accident and JP must return to France.

Planning a brief stay, JP takes on Victor’s role. But his precisely laid plans are derailed when he meets Veronique, the fervent founder of a preservationist organization called Whole France. When JP eventually returns to New York, a devastating betrayal threatens his family’s legacy. Can JP and Victor save Les Beaux Châteaux, or will their partnership be shattered by greed?

Author: Dorothy Mackevich Marks

Language: English

Format: Soft Cover, 239 pages

Publisher: DMM Press, 2022