The Paris Novel

This chapter flashes back to Stella’s childhood. Her mother, Celia, begins dating a handsome, rich man named Mortimer when Stella is seven years old. He frequently brings gifts for Stella, which makes her uncomfortable. He offers to teach Stella to paint, so Celia sends her to his studio on Sundays for lessons. On Stella’s first visit, Mortimer makes her take her clothes off and sexually assaults her. Stella feels shameful and humiliated, believing it to be her own fault, and does not tell Celia about it. Celia continues to send her to Mortimer’s studio weekly, and the assaults continue for more than a year. One day, Celia asks Stella if Mortimer ever does “anything funny” to her, and Stella says yes (14). Stella never goes to Mortimer’s again but suspects that Celia continues dating him. She and Stella never discuss the subject again. 

Chapter 3 begins with Celia’s point of view as she leaves her home in Brooklyn at 15 years old, reinventing herself and taking a job at a cosmetics counter to study and adopt the wealthy customers’ speech, mannerisms, and dress. She works as a widely beloved personal shopper to wealthy customers who divulge their troubles to her. Celia starts writing a scandalous gossip column for the New York Herald Tribune full of their secrets. She’s a “chameleon,” only showing people what they want to see while secretly deriding even her close friends (16). She becomes pregnant with Stella and doesn’t divulge any information about her father. Celia constantly expresses frustration that Stella does not live up to her standards; she mocks her for keeping strict routines and being so shy.

After Stella stops visiting Mortimer, Celia signs her up for art appreciation classes at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). During her first class, Stella is scolded for interpreting a painting “wrong,” and Stella takes to wandering the museum on her own instead, immersing herself in the paintings. MoMA becomes her “sanctuary,” and she goes regularly, developing a deep appreciation for art.

Stella goes to college and briefly moves back in with Celia afterward. When Stella finds her own apartment, she and Celia only see each other on birthdays and holidays.

Stella finds a job as a copy editor for Vanguard Press and lives a content, quiet, scheduled life, until her mother’s sudden death. Stella receives a call from one of her mother’s friends that Celia has been hit by a car. The friend begs Stella to arrange a memorial service for her mother, but she flatly refuses.

Stella meets with Celia’s lawyer and discovers that her mother has left her exactly $8,000 and instructed her lawyer to buy a plane ticket to Paris and covert the rest to traveler’s checks. She leaves Stella a final note, which simply says, “Go to Paris” (23). Stella feels annoyed, seeing the gift as Celia’s “final attempt to turn [her] into the daughter [Celia] wanted [her] to be” (22).

For six months, Stella refuses to do what Celia wishes, but soon her regular, highly scheduled life begins to feel different, more confining. Her mother’s death fills her with unanswered questions about the rest of her family.

Stella throws herself into her work to distract herself from her feelings until her boss tells her to take a vacation. She forces Stella to take six weeks off, and Stella hesitantly decides to go to Paris.

Stella’s boss suggests a hotel in Paris’s fifth arrondissement. After the encounter in the dress shop, Stella creates rigid itineraries for herself, seeing all the major tourist sights and leaving no room for uncertainty. She eats plain, discount food. Throughout her stay, she feels disenchanted and alone, missing her apartment and office. She resists spending the money that Celia left her, as the idea of luxury experiences and meals reminds her of her mother.

After a month in Paris, Stella passes by the strange dress shop again and, seeing another garment that catches her eye, wanders inside. The shopkeeper greets her expectantly, saying that she knew Stella would return and ushering her into the dressing room. Stella puts on the black Dior dress again, noticing that the label bears the name “Séverine.” The shopkeeper tells Stella that Christian Dior said that the dress would take on the name of the woman who wore it; thus, Séverine was the dress’s previous owner.

She finishes buttoning the dress on Stella, and Stella relishes the feeling of comfort and regality that it gives her. The shopkeeper makes Stella an offer: She tells her to buy the dress, wear it for a day, and do exactly what the shopkeeper tells her to do; if Stella has any regrets, she can return the dress and get her money back.

She gives Stella specific instructions: go to a restaurant called Les Deux Magots and order Chablis and oysters, go to the Musée du Jeu de Paume, and then return to her hotel for a luxurious bath with a glass of champagne. After the bath, she is to go to Caviar Kaspia, Yves Saint Laurent’s favorite restaurant, and then go to sleep—the next day, she can retrieve her clothes and get her money back. However, the shopkeeper is confident that Stella will want to keep the dress.

Stella feels carefree in the new black dress, appreciating the attention that people give her. She wonders what Séverine, the dress’s previous owner, must have been like. She arrives at Les Deux Magots and orders the oysters and Chablis as the shopkeeper instructed. She tries the wine and oysters, savoring the experience. An older man at a nearby table remarks that she eats “with such intensity” (34). Unaccustomed to talking to strangers, Stella thinks briefly of Mortimer but puts him out of mind and talks to the man. He remarks that Picasso ate oysters the way Stella does and tells a story about meeting him when he was young during World War I. She tells him about her reason for coming to Paris. The man asks where she bought the dress she’s wearing, and Stella tells him about the encounter at the dress shop. When the man remarks that his late wife was one of Saint Laurent’s first customers, Stella deduces that he is wealthy. The man introduces himself as Jules Delatour and invites Stella to have dinner with him. Stella says that she has to go to the Musée du Jeu de Paume, and Jules remarks that he used to work there.

Jules pays for Stella’s meal and accompanies her to the museum. When they arrive at the museum, Jules leads her to Olympia by Edouard Manet. Stella takes in the painting, noting the model’s confident, self-assured pose and arrogant expression. Jules talks about the painting and the controversy it incited upon its release. He mentions that the model, Victorine-Louise Meurent, modeled for many famous painters of the time but was multi-talented and a painter herself. Although women were not allowed to study painting at the time, one of her paintings was displayed at the Salon of 1876. Stella is fascinated by Victorine and saddened to learn that all her paintings were lost over the years. Stella wishes she had more time in Paris; if she did, she would attempt to find Victorine’s lost paintings. She takes Jules up on his offer to take her to dinner. Stella mentions that she had planned to go to Caviar Kaspia as the saleslady had instructed, but Jules says he has a better idea.

Jules picks Stella up for dinner at her hotel in a luxurious old car. They go to a bistro called L’Ami Louis, and Jules introduces Stella to the chef, his friend Antoine. Antoine shows interest in Stella and, particularly, her dress, but Jules is evasive when Stella attempts to ask why. She tries foie gras for the first time, and again, Jules notes the intensity with which she eats and the appreciation she has for food. Stella remembers Celia’s frequent dinner parties and how much she hated her mother’s cooking, which always made Stella assume that she simply did not care for fancy food. Next, she tries ortolans—tiny birds that are eaten whole—and describes the experience as “astonishing.”

As the meal continues, Stella tries different courses and wines, describing the flavors. Jules remarks that she has a talent for food. He talks more about his life, specifically his son Jean-Marie. He invites Stella to visit his home in Vezelay, the setting of a book that Stella once copy edited. Jules suggests meeting at a bookstore in Paris called Shakespeare and Company to look for the book and then going to Vezelay together.

He mentions spending the night at his home, which immediately gives Stella pause, remembering Mortimer. She suddenly realizes that Jules may have been lying about everything he has told her so far. Now, trying escargot for the first time, she feels disgusted by them. Stella tells Jules that she’s not feeling well, and the waiter calls a taxi for her. Jules insists on riding with her to ensure that she is all right, and Stella nearly panics in the taxi. They arrive safely at her hotel, and Stella realizes that she has overreacted and “allowed the past to overwhelm her” (62). Before parting, Jules compliments her, saying that she has a talent and appreciation for food and art that she should not neglect.

Stella wakes up the next morning, having dreamt about Mortimer. She takes the black dress and returns it to the shop where she bought it. The shopkeeper is shocked and accuses her of not following her instructions. Still, she returns Stella’s money and says that they will meet again.

Stella returns to Jeu de Paume and looks at Olympia again, thinking about the model. She resolves to find out as much as she can about Victorine and find her lost paintings so that the artist’s life and work can be remembered. Stella spends all morning with the painting until a group of American tourists pass and mention that the gift shop sells a book about the painting. Stella goes to the gift shop and finds the book, though it is expensive. The clerk suggests that she go to Shakespeare and Company, the bookstore Jules mentioned, to see if they have a cheaper used copy. After stopping for lunch at a bistro, she goes to Shakespeare and Company, feeling anxious. Stella is amazed by the store, which is crammed with books. She meets the bookstore’s owner, the famous George Whitman, and asks about the book she wants. George finds a copy, and Stella mentions that she’s interested not in Manet but in the woman who modeled for him. She tells him about her goal of finding Victorine’s lost paintings. In the store, Stella meets Rachel, an employee of Shakespeare and Company, and Daniel, one of several “Tumbleweeds”—writers and wanderers who live at the bookstore and help out where they can.

Stella sits to read the book that George gave her, but Victorine is barely mentioned. When she tells George that the book was not useful, he says that he will call someone who can help. As Stella leaves, George says that Shakespeare and Company is always open to her if she needs a place to stay, stating that he “know[s] a Tumbleweed when [he] see[s] one” (74).