writing

A HISTORY OF INDECENT BEHAVIOR

My first novel A HISTORY OF INDECENT BEHAVIOR begins in 1939 Paris, when Carmen “Kit” Gaudin turns eighteen and becomes a dancer at the Moulin Rouge. This multigenerational family story follows the showgirl descendants of Rosa la Rouge, muse of French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as they journey from wartime Paris, to midcentury Las Vegas, to the contemporary New York art scene in their struggle for intimacy and survival.

Third-generation cancan dancer Kit wants nothing more than to escape the Moulin Rouge and make a better life for her family. Her daughter Vanguard likewise desires escape—from a secret teenaged pregnancy and adoption she hides at the cost of her closest relationships. Twenty-five-year-old Tisha fights for control of her own life as she seeks to understand her family’s estrangement in hopes of reuniting them before time runs out. What is indecent behavior? The novel explores this question, in terms of love and how we relate to one another as human beings.

A HISTORY OF INDECENT BEHAVIOR was a semi-finalist for the Royal Palm Literary Award, and is supported by a novel writing grant from Wedgwood Circle. An excerpt appears in Sonora Review, Issue 73: Frenzy/Future, under the title “The Green Fairy.” Take a look!

Art Credit:
At the Moulin Rouge, The Dance by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec