Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A gilded cage is still a cage
The Mistress
Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A gilded cage is still a cage
What you need to know before your trail
Natasha Leonova was once discovered on a freezing Moscow street by a Russian billionaire. Seven years later she has been living under his protection ever since he saved her. She realises her good fortune or at least it appears to be good fortune. Vladimir’s ruthlessness scares her and he moves in some very shady circles.
One day she meets Theo Luca, the son of a famous and difficult artist. He owns a restaurant with his mother which is filled with his late father’s artwork. Theo sees Natasha and thinks that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. However another obsession has also started – Vladimir’s interest in Luca’s artwork.
Theo starts to paint Natasha as he remembers every curve of her face. Vladimir is angry that he can’t buy any of the paintings. Two men will meet thanks to their obsession with Natasha and their desire to control or own her in some way. Natasha however wants to choose her own path.
Travel Guide
The South of France
Ah to be living in a grand house in the Cap D’antibes or St Paul de Vence along the coast in the Alpes Maritimes. What a life! With a huge yacht for personal use and life with one of the richest men in Russia.
With a sugar daddy of sorts in his 50s, a mistress of 26 might think she’s hit the jackpot having been rescued from the streets of Moscow and a life of poverty to this paradise. Well paradise of a sort – a gilded cage is still a cage. He controls her in every way and refuses to have children. She must do what he says when he says.
Art and La Colombe d’Or
The art world comes into its own here with some of the finest art in the country being held in the hotel and restaurant in St Paul de Vence:
“They had been there many times for the delicious meals in the famous restaurant filled with the artwork of Picasso, Leger, Calder and all the ohters who had dined there and paid their bar and restaurant bills with paintings they’d given to the owners in the early years.”
In the novel, Maylis Luca is the widow of famed artist, Lorenzo Luca. Their son, Theo, displays his works in their restaurant in Cap d’Antibes.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Mistress
Author/Guide: Danielle Steel Destination: St Paul de Vence, Cap D’antibes, Paris Departure Time: 2000s
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