Rue Paradis

About the Book

Rue Paradis is a novel in five parts, each part are connected by places, people, ideas, incidents... things....

Part one, Rue Paradis, is about hope. The story describes the break up of the family home following the death of Mr Reynolds. The break up of the home is a metaphor for the break up of both the family in general and, more specifically, Alex’s marriage. Alex is the youngest of Mr Reynolds’ three daughters and is married to James, who drinks too much and is having an affair. However, the chance discovery of what might be a valuable sketch by (possibly) Picasso provides a lifeline for the failing marriage. Out of the debris springs hope....

Part two, Madness of a Gentle Kind, is about salvation, about being re-born, about people having the capacity to change if they take the opportunity to do so. Rudi, a London-based musician down on his luck, gets a call from his manager to play at a New Year’s Eve gig in Dorset. Reluctantly, Rudi accepts the booking. In Dorset Rudi is taken to Santuario, home of Else and Vilma La Ginosta. Here Rudi finds out that not only is he the sole performer (accompanying his own 30 year old recordings!) but also sole member of the audience at a bizarre yet captivating cabaret being staged by the sisters and their gentleman farmer friend, Charles Murless. For all its madness, as the evening wears on, the warmth and the comfort and the unconditional regard of Santuario provide Rudi with the opportunity to re-evaluate his life and exorcise his personal demons.

Part three, The Tamarisk Tree, is about sanctuary and charity, and about human kindness under extreme circumstances. It’s 1942, Christmas Eve in Paris, and Sam and his two friends, Joe and Henri are preparing to enjoy Christmas Eve supper at Dominique’s café on the Rue Paradis. In walk four Jews: an old man, a young woman, Miriam,  and her two daughters, Else and Vilma. They’ve been on the road for eighteen months and have suffered unimaginable hardship. The story tells of how Sam & Co. help the Jews escape. At one point it looks as though this might not happen when two German soldiers gate-crash the party.

Part four, And Silent, is about living - and dying - with the consequences of one’s actions.  

Erik Woolf, a young soldier in the German army, finds himself in Treblinka murdering Jewish women and children. The act of pouring Zyklon B pellets down the air vent upsets Erik greatly. After months of enduring horrific nightmares he can take no more and, in an effort to escape the torment, Erik kills himself. He ‘wakes up’ in a place he doesn’t recognise only to discover the nightmares haven’t gone away. Nothing has changed. Death has not been his salvation. To the grave and beyond he takes the consequences of his actions. Forgiveness is not an option.

Part five, Café de L’amour, is simply about love, in its numerous forms. It’s also about sex and lust, and about innocence and the loss of it. And it’s about trust and deceit, among other things. Two young women, Barbara and Margaret happen upon the Café de L’amour in the Rue Paradis, Paris 1915. At the café they meet Pablo, an artist with a reputation, and Emile, a young singer with the Petrokovs, a family trio out of Hungary. Pablo offers to paint Barbara’s portrait - he thinks she’s voluptuous with wonderful colouring - and Emile and Margaret strike up what appears to be a genuine friendship. Whilst painting the portrait, Pablo and Barbara embark on a passionate affair driven by sex and lust. Emile and Margaret’s affair is more restrained but no less passionate in its own way. In the end the fires of love burn out as quickly as they were ignited, and the young women are left to reflect on the many forms of love, life and loss….

[Some] Connections.

Alex, the youngest of the sisters in Rue Paradis, is the daughter of Margaret, one of the young women in Café de L’amour. ‘Picasso’ is a key player in both stories. Else and Vilma appear as o

About the Author

A former stage actor James Allan Kennedy has been writing seriously for about ten years. During this time he has written eight screenplays, two novels and a number of short stories. He lives in the United Kingdom, in Cornwall, with his wife Dorothy and is currently working on his third novel Molly & Malone.