In March 2023, my wife and I attended a very small and private writing workshop in Paris, led by Phil Cousineau. He chose five people whose projects were in the final stages, and the intent was to push us to the finish line—and that it did! For a week, mornings were spent around a table in the back of La Contrescarpe, discussing our projects and getting feedback from Phil and the group. Afternoons were walking tours throughout the city, with Phil regaling us with history and stories, exploring cafes and neighborhoods once frequented by Ernest Hemingway, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Ezra Pound, Arthur Miller, William Carlos Williams, Sylvia Beach, Jean Cocteau, Victor Hugo, and myriad artists and composers.
During a visit to the Rodin Museum, I was immediately struck by Rodin student Camille Claudel’s bronze sculpture, “The Age of Maturity.” I settled in a seat in the corner and sketched it. To me, the sculpture embodies a key aspect in my novel: As my alchemist pursues his quest for gold and elevating mankind to a divine level, circumstances continually whittle away his faith, while his apprentice, Tom, desperately clings to any vestige of faith he got from his parents.
