The Orphan of Père-Lachaise
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About the Novel
In 1971 Paris, sixteen-year-old Yves Baptiste lives among the tombs of Père Lachaise Cemetery, clinging to the memory of his father, a famous hypnotist. Obsessed with bringing him back, Yves turns to painting as a way to bridge the living and the dead.
When word spreads of a lost masterpiece hidden in the cemetery since the Nazi occupation, Yves is drawn into a dangerous race. Lucien Duval, a cunning art dealer, and his niece Colette see Yves as the key to finding it—and to claiming its power for themselves.
Amid this struggle, Yves meets Bass Beauchamp, a young writer whose own grief and secrets mirror his own. In their bond, Yves glimpses the possibility of healing—not through the dead, but through the living.
The Orphan of Père Lachaise is a tale of obsession and redemption, of love and loss, of how art can both destroy and save. At its heart, it asks: how far would you go to see the one you’ve lost again?
Among the dead of Paris,
one boy must choose between the father he lost
and the future that calls him.
“People are painted way too much,” I murmur. “They’re boring. I paint the in-between—when death and life are still wrestling. That’s the moment I want. That’s when truth leaks through. It’s beautiful. Terrifying, but brief, as each battles for control. There’s allure in both the contentment and the fear. I see it everywhere—flowers, animals, the sun, even conversations...
If I were to paint a human, I’d capture them in the same way—in transition.”
-Yves Baptiste
The Lost Baptiste
— the hidden Pascin masterpiece at the heart of the story
Yves Baptist Paintings
Self-portrait with Papa
Self-portrait in Pere Lachaise
Colette and Earth as one
Bass Beauchamp Writing The Orphan of Pere Lachaise (1971)
I wrote this poem/song as a companion piece to The Orphan of Pere Lachaise, capturing the Yves heartbreak over the death of his Papa.
In Père Lachaise, where shadows dwell,
Crypts tell stories through stone and time,
Beneath the moss, the whispers swell,
A tomb becomes both dark and divine.
Je t'entends, Papa, sous le ciel gris,
Le temps suspendu dans la nuit.
I feel your breath, it’s always near,
In silence, Père Lachaise, I hear."
Mausoleums, grand and still,
Echo secrets of the lost,
I paint decay with careful skill,
Finding life in death’s great cost.
Je t'entends, Papa, sous le ciel gris,
Le temps suspendu dans la nuit.
I feel your breath, it’s always near,
In silence, Père Lachaise, I hear."
The crypts sing hymns through rain-soaked trees,
Papa rests, yet never leaves,
His watch swings slow, the time unsure,
A life entwined with death’s allure.
Je t'entends, Papa, sous le ciel gris,
Le temps suspendu dans la nuit.
Your legacy and all we knew,
In Père Lachaise, I wait for you.
Complete Song on Home Page
Status
Work in Progress.
Nearly completed first write.
The Bones
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It’s Upmarket coming-of-age with magical-realism threads.
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Core themes: Obsession, Grief, Art, Mind Control, Mystery.
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Set in Paris, 1971 — where youth, history, and seduction collide.