Having the mind and soul of an artist that loves beautiful spectacular sunsets and ethereal settings, I found this story was similar in feelings. What Kay Nolte Smith wrote in words could not have been any more artistically expressed than Monet sharing his thoughts with his brush strokes. If the reader would like to read a soul stirring novel, full of compassion and love, then I would recommend this book.

I must admit that I am biased toward the time and setting in which this book is placed, nineteenth century France. However any reader would be totally engulfed in this novel from beginning to end... I am SURE of that. I cried on two occasions in this book and felt all of the other emotions at different times during this novel. From the time that the dwarf, Nandou, who was larger than life, first sees Jeanne, to the last page one will not want to leave Paris. The line that sticks in my mind the most is at the very end...."...the smile that will never be changed and the wind that rose to meet it"

"Mindspell" -- As the book flap says, Cayla Hayward is a "brilliant, fiercely rational, young president of Biologiconn, Inc.," who has made a "miraculous breakthrough in gene-splicing technology." Her scientific work is denounced and threatened by religions and political leaders. Ironic, because one of her ancestors was tortured to death for being a witch. The forces of anti-reason have been with us a long time. My favorite line in the book occurs when a preacher tells his congregation to bow their heads and pray: "The churchfull of heads obeyed, like rows of flowers cut with a single stroke."