The Street Where the Heart Lies: A Novel

236 pp. "GALA, the stripper, innocent, beautiful and always hungry -- for the food her tyrant husband denied her; MIOMO, her jealous husband -- he trained her to strip to the music of Chopin and the words of Baudelaire; JEB CLAYBORN, rich young American, who went to live under a bridge just to be near her; MADAME MICHEL, the very model of a Parisian music hall singer -- until she (or was it he?) went home to visit her wife and son; AISHA, the Arabian dancer, whose only costume was her pet python. Her English was confined to "Ah?" -- but that was enough. You'll find them all, along with a supporting cast that includes a motorcycling Mother Superior and a philosophic masseur, in this deliciously sinful portrait of Paris."