How can you justify leaving everything you’ve known your whole life, including Paris, for the love of a small-town Southern man? Even knowing the ending, this memoir will keep you guessing until the last page.

Atlanta, 1978. Parisian May arrives at Georgia Tech to study architecture, seeking to redefine herself away from a disappointing romantic relationship, an overbearing father, and the misogyny of the Beaux-Arts School. She strives for emotional independence but meets Southern Dickie and can’t resist his enthusiasm and humor. While they share the language of architecture, May struggles with the language of American love and fails to understand Dickie’s feelings. Haunted by her past and reluctant to risk their friendship over a misunderstanding, she can’t bring herself to reach out to him. After seven months in the U.S. and still too confused to embrace love, she leaves, convinced she’ll never come back.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

May Spangler holds a master’s degree in architecture from the École des Beaux-Arts and a PhD in French Literature from Emory University. Her publications include short stories, literary criticism essays, a monograph, Monstrer Diderot, a memoir, Papa a dit, Maman aussi, and a textbook and teacher manual, Paris in Architecture, Literature, and Art. Visit May at www.mayspangler.com