Catherine Abel After the opera

From the cobblestone streets below you can hear the hooves of horses leading velvet-curtained carts. Distant conversations are peppered with laughter. The evening is bright with stars, the spring air crisp and cool. It is one of those nights when you truly believe something magical is about to happen.

Marigold – living the life of the Belle Époque – has returned from a sparkling night at the opera and is now seated in the library, having felt compelled to search for the book she clutches.

Is it the story of the opera she has just witnessed? Is it a collection of poetry she’ll inscribe for the handsome gentleman who escorted her? Or does the book contain a deeper secret?

- Catherine Abel, 2015