Carolyn Jourdan - Nurse Phoebe 03 - The School for Psychics (19 page)

“You’re in France, Phoebe
. Even in a little town like this you go to the boulangerie for bread, the patisserie for deserts, the crêmerie for milk, and épicerie for other types of groceries. Since you are vegetarian, we can skip the rest of the places.”

“Well I want tarts and milk. Lots and lots of tarts of all types and
plenty of milk, the kind with the cream still in it.”

“
Then we’d better make a run into town now before the snow gets too deep,” he said, standing and stretching.

Phoebe followed Nick
to the mudroom to retrieve their coats and then out of the château and into the courtyard. She looked around at the heartbreakingly beautiful setting and thought,
This is going to be the best Christmas
ever
.

Dedication

Information about the restoration of
Château de Menars, including a touching reluctance to decorate Madame Pompadour’s private rooms, are from a
New York Times
article about the fascinating owner, Edmond Baysari. All incidents depicted in this book, however, are from my imagination.

Queen Eleanor
’s tomb was moved recently in the latest remodeling of Fontevraud Abbey. She’s now beside the husband who imprisoned her and her son Richard is at Henry’s feet. But she’s still reading in bed.

Merci beaucoup
to the Government of France for allowing me to make a private tour of the Pavilion Français at Versailles.

The description of
Nick’s château is actually of Château Saint-Germain-de-Livet in Liseux, Calvados, Basse Normandie. This tiny place is my favorite château in France.

The fireplace with the Order of the Porcupine is in
Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire. Château de Blois bears the prickly royal insignia, too.

Château
d’Esclimont is a splendid five-star hotel. It’s the best place I’ve ever stayed in my life. The room service was awe-inspiring and was as described in this novel. I’ve kept a photos of the château on my nightstand ever since.

Thank you to
Jennie Shortridge and Matt Gani for the gift of a writing retreat to finish this book in their fabulous house on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.

Thank you
to Margaret Moore and Kim Franklin for a beta read.

Research Resources

The inspiration for the character of J.J. is Jacques
Lusseyran. I can’t recommend highly enough Lusseyran’s amazing and deeply moving memoir,
And There was Light
. Lusseyran became a hero during WWII for acting as a human Rolodex for the names and contact information of the French Resistance. Although his eyes were removed after an accident when he was a child, he had an ability to
see
that was astonishing. I wrote to a gentleman who knew Lusseyran personally, was a student of his at the University of Hawaii, and was told that when he was introduced to Lusseyran, he felt more
seen
by the blind man than by any other person in his life.

The description of
an esoteric intervention during an attack comes from Anna Samweber’s memoir,
Memories of Rudolf Steiner
. Ms. Samweber was asked by her employer, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, to take a watch to be repaired. On her way to the repair shop, robbers attacked her. Dr. Steiner had promised Ms. Samweber that would always be available to help her if she should ever need him. She remembered this and cried out for his assistance. Even though he was far away, the attackers went flying backwards and crashed against a wall, enabling her to escape unharmed.

There are two triangular
esoteric books in the Manly Palmer Hall Collection at Getty Research Library in Alchemical Texts and at least one in the Vatican. There are others as well, in England and France.

The
individuality known as Christian Rosenkreutz [or Rosey Cross, Rosenkreuz, Rosencreuts, etc.] and the relationship between the Count Saint Germain and CR, is clouded in myth, legend, and intentional disinformation. Descriptions of the CR individuality are in
The Secret Stream: Christian Rosenkreutz and Rosicrucianism
http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-Stream-Rosenkreutz-Rosicrucianism/dp/0880104759
  In
addition, there are many books about CR at Amazon.com and ten good ones at
http://www.SteinerBooks.com

Several paintings by Rembrandt are thought to depict CR, for example,
The Polish Rider
,
Man in Armor with Helmet and Spear
, and
Portrait of a Man with Glove
.

About the Author

Carolyn is a former U.S. Senate Counsel to the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Governmental Affairs. She has degrees from the University of Tennessee in Biomedical Engineering and Law. Carolyn lives on the family farm in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, with many stray animals.