Studio Saint-Ex

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What to expect

This sleek, stylish novel set in 1940s New York, between the shock of Pearl Harbor and the landing of American troops in Europe, is a deft, romantic novel about a wartime love triangle involving a twenty-two-year-old fashion designer poised to launch her career; the French expatriate writer and war pilot, Antoine de Saint-Exup├®ry, who's left his Nazi-occupied country and come to Manhattan for a month, only to stay for two years; and his beautiful, estranged Salvadoran wife determined to win back her husband at all costs—and seductions.

With Paris under occupation by Hitler's troops, New York's Mayor La Guardia has vowed to turn his city into the new fashion capital of the world. A handful of American designers are set to become the industry's brightest names, and Mignonne Lachapelle is determined to be among them. Her ambition and ethics are clear until she falls for the celebrated and tormented adventurer Captain Saint-Exup├®ry.

In New York, Saint-Ex writes a new book on the fall of France, Flight to Arras, and collects (a year late) his National Book Award for Wind, Sand, and Stars. But he suffers under exile and, to distract himself from his malaise, begins work on a new book at his US publisher's offhand suggestion: an exotic fable.

Nothing about Mig's tempestuous, romantic relationship with Saint-Ex is straightforward, but the greatest complication will come in the form of his deceptively simple manuscript about a petit bonhomme in the Sahara Desert fallen to earth on a journey across the planets.

Critics Review

“Gorgeously evokes the fashion scene of 1940s
Manhattan and provides a smart, sure-handed glimpse into the hearts and minds
of two women in love with literary sensation Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A deft
examination of love, desire, and ambition.”

Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of The Painted Girls

“Studio
Saint-Ex is an imaginative, sensual exploration of the creation of Antoine
de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince,
set in a moodily evocative 1940s New York. In depicting the breathtaking
collision between desire and art, passion and inspiration, Szado spins a tale
that will make you view this beloved classic in an entirely different, and very
surprising, way.”

Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife

“Szado crafts the facts of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s life into an engaging tale of youth, power, and longing set in New York City as the country heads off to WWII…The world of haute couture depicted here overflows with backstabbing, design stealing, and credit-robbing injustice…Neither Szado’s shifting points-of-view nor movements through time are seamless, but the love of story within the story is redeeming.”

Publishers Weekly

“This domestic and fashionista drama plays out against de Saint-Exupéry’s protracted attempts to work on his allegorical tale of The Little Prince. High fashion and high drama coexist in equal measure in this insightful novel.”

Kirkus Reviews

“An elegantly alluring and poignant love story.
Nuanced, written with intimacy and immediacy, it’s a fascinating account of the
evolution of the classic children’s novel The
Little Prince, framed by the complex relationships of the French writer / war
hero Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, his formidably manipulative and fiercely sensual
Latin wife, and the young, talented Canadian fashion designer who captivates
them both. Spare and beautifully crafted, the novel vividly evokes the world of
fashion design and the French ex-pat community in New York during WWII. In a
word: magnifique!”

Sandra Gulland, bestselling author of the Josephine B. Trilogy and Mistress of the Sun

“Szado has created a fascinating time and place
and has risen wonderfully to the challenge of portraying real historical
characters in fiction—bravo!”

Annabel Lyon, author of The Golden Mean

“A novel that is so true and so right that it
makes you wonder why nobody has written it before. Studio Saint-Ex is
like an ocean undertow: I fell in and could not get out except by gorging on
the story as it pulled me toward the final sentence…An unputdownable novel
about twentieth century fashion, French expatriates in Manhattan during World
War II, the miracle of creative genius, and the lives of the great writer
Antoine de Saint-Exupery and the women he loved. Open the first page and
prepare to fall.”

Lawrence Hill, author of Someone Knows My Name

“A ravishing glimpse into the early days of
American haute couture and into the private life of one of the twentieth century’s
most notorious authors. Ania Szado’s writing is nothing less than sublime.”

Alison Pick, author of Far to Go

“With subtlety and finesse, Ania Szado draws us
into the circle of charismatic expatriate, pilot, and author Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry’s world, as he struggles to find a way to aid occupied France.
The conflicting ambitions and passions of the two beautiful women who love him
most lead to an unexpected alliance and shape the trio’s fates in ways none of
them can foresee. A thoughtful, fascinating story, beautifully told.”

Therese Anne Fowler, author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

“Rich in observations, beautifully rendered, Studio Saint-Ex is a complex study of
love, overriding ambition, and the miracles of creativity. Ania Szado has
written a mesmerizing book.”

Eva Stachniak, author of The Winter Palace

“In Ania Szado’s lyrical novel, the characters
are pulled between worlds; France and America, high fashion and wartime
austerity, the allure of flight and the magic of the written word. Studio Saint-Ex is at once seductive and
brimming with the restless energy of World War II New York. It, like its
characters, takes wing through a dark uncharted night, in order to deliver
great beauty.”

Vincent Lam, author of The Headmaster's Wager

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