The Secret Language of Stones

July 18, 2016
During the summer of 1918, Opaline Duplessi, the narrator of bestseller Rose's mesmerizing sequel to 2015's The Witch of Painted Sorrows, is working as a jeweler in Paris's Palais Royal. Opaline is skilled at her art, and she also has an unusual ability: "to receive messages that were inaudible and invisible to others" through handling stones. That gift enables her to communicate with the dead, and is a talent much in demand by those grieving for soldiers lost in combat. One such mourner, Denise Alouette, approaches her about her late son, Jean Luc Forêt, who was a popular newspaper columnist and crusader for the arts. After being given a charm connected with Jean Luc--a crystal egg containing one of his hairs--Opaline begins to hear a voice that seems to be talking with her directly. Meanwhile, Opaline is also caught up in intrigues involving Russian émigrés and the fate of the Romanovs. The complex protagonist and evocative prose will appeal even to readers who don't as a rule enjoy the paranormal. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House.