A few neighborhood ladies, with their hair tied in scarves and dragging small children, exited the underground metro station. The girls scampered to the nearest metro station to take shelter.Īfter an hour, officials determined the skies were friendly and issued an all clear. Were they German? Were they French? Gigi and her friends did not stop to debate the question on the street. Suddenly, the air raid sirens wailed, echoing through the neighborhood as a formation of silver bomber planes flew overhead in the cloudless blue skies. After school, Gigi and her friends, Renée and Corinne, enjoyed walking through the streets of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, leisurely visiting with friends and neighbors. The early June summer day was already like the hot, languid days of August.

To learn more about the Gigi series and peruse Dennis Ward’s literary garden of books, plays, and short stories, visit or DennisWardAuthor/ PARIS, JUNE 1940, CALM BEFORE THE STORM The two stories will resonant long after the final page is read. The second book of the Gigi series is based on the life of Gisèle “Gigi” Carriton. Madame Gigi is a mesmerizing read that takes the reader on a page-turning journey of the unique culture of south Louisiana. He vows to shut down the popular nightclub and run Gigi out of Lafayette by any means-even murder. But the club’s success attracts the attention of a powerful man with unbridled ambition to become Louisiana’s next governor. With the help of her right-hand man and soul mate Clarence, a handsome, disabled, gay veteran, she moves to a larger location and expands the cabaret shows. Add three saucy drag queens to the mix and the bar becomes the hottest ticket between Houston and New Orleans. Business is tepid until three gay boys spread the word that a beautiful French lady has a Parisian-style bar that welcomes gay people.

It is then that she renovates and opens a small, elegant bar for executive types in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. After two decades in America, Gigi is a twice-divorced, penniless mother of five sons, and at forty years of age, she feels at the lowest point of her life. Standing alone on the harbor dock, she is devastated he has broken his promise to meet her. When she reaches the shores of America in the spring of 1946 after surviving the Holocaust, foremost in her thoughts is reuniting with her new Cajun husband. Madame Gigi, the second book in the Gigi series, continues the epic story of Gigi’s life in America.

Mademoiselle Gigi by Dennis Ward