Luncheon at the Dead Rat: Paris at the end of the Second Empire

Paris at the end of the Second Empire: Napoleon III and the disaster of the Franco-Prussian War, the rise and fall of the Commune, the early Impressionists, love, absinthe, and La Vie Parisienne. Emile-Claire and her ward, Teo Presume, and their companion, Phoebe Stapleton find themselves in Paris during the final decade of the Second empire. Their lives will be intertwined with artists, soldiers, and Communards, from the cafes to the barricades.