Mated from the Morgue: A Tale of the Second Empire

Set against the fog‑laden streets of the Latin Quarter in the spring of 1866, this novel opens in a cramped attic where a down‑and‑out artist awakens to the stale smoke of a Turkish pipe and the biting reality of unpaid debts. The narrator’s sharp eye captures the neighborhood’s ragged charm—its bustling cafés, itinerant scholars, and the stray dog that prowls the alleys—while offering a wry commentary on the precarious dance between ambition and impoverishment that defines the era.

Through a series of vivid vignettes, the story sketches a cast of characters whose lives intersect in the shadow of the looming Imperial splendor: a charismatic yet cash‑starved Irish heir, a demanding aunt with social expectations, and the occasional philosophizing passer‑by who punctuates the dialogue with biting irony. The prose balances humor and melancholy, drawing listeners into a world where the sparkle of Parisian ambition is tinged by the gritty honesty of daily survival.