Sandrine Salome escapes her cruel and dangerous husband Benjamin, seeking refuge with her grandmother in Paris. When she arrives, Sandrine discovers her grandmother has closed the family home known as Maison de la Lune for renovations. Despite her grandmother’s insistence that the mansion’s disrepair is dangerous, Sandrine decides to go see for herself.
At the mansion, Sandrine encounters Julien Duplessi, an architect hired by her grandmother, and is immediately enthralled with him. She finds nothing wrong with the home and feels as if Maison de la Lune has opened it’s arms to welcome her.
As Julien and Sandrine explore Maison de la Lune they discover a hidden studio in the bell tower filled with erotic paintings. The longer Sandrine stays in the tower, the more passionate she becomes. Eventually overcome with love for Julien and her desire to paint evocative scenes, Sandrine is warned that she is being taken over by her ancestor, La Lune.
La Lune, a courtesan from the sixteenth-century, is a legend in Sandrine’s family for her practice of witchcraft. The legend passed down through the generations says La Lune’s obsession for her lover and painting drove her to find a spell that gave her the power to possess others and pursue her passions with them.
With Benjamin desperately hunting for her and mysterious events surrounding her, Sandrine feels her time is running out. She must decide what is most important and how far she is willing to go to save those she loves . . . or herself.
A haunting tale of erotic love and a passion for the art of painting. Set in the 1890s, “The Witch Of Painted Sorrows” is filled with vivid and colorful descriptions. M.J. Rose seamlessly weaves historical events throughout this story filled with distinctive characters that will keep the reader captivated to the end.
