Auspicious Beginnings

by Susan Buffum

Eleven stories are gathered in this volume in which the characters discover love in surprising ways. A legal receptionist verbally spars with a young lawyer in Legal Maneuvers. A French baker labors under the iron rule of his mother unit she suddenly dies and he finds himself able to live his own life for the first time in Papillons du le Soleil. A funeral home director notices the same woman attending a number of funerals and finally takes a chance talking to her. A young artist in Paris crosses paths with the Curator of an art museum in Christien and Sophie. An American journalist is in Paris to interview a popular French author in The Interview. An Irish girl working for her uncle delivers supplies to an Italian artist whom she has inspired in Vittorio. A writer discovers a dead kitten in his cousin's refrigerator and it alters the course of his life. A young woman with psychic ability seeks to end her life, but her guardian angel intervenes in Nova. A woman helps her great aunt arrange a funeral and meets a former classmate whom she always thought was weird in The Sentiment of Roses. A young woman and a young man clash at their wealthy parents' wedding in the French Riviera in Journey North. In La Rose, Le Loup and La Lune, a young girl flees her abusive home and is adopted by a band of gypsies.

294 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Susan Buffum was born in Northampton, MA and grew up in Easthampton and Westfield, MA. She currently resides in western Massachusetts. Her daughter, Kelly, also writes. Susan works as a medical secretary and writes as a hobby in her spare time. Her sister, Lynnmarie May, writes children's stories and short plays. Her grandfather was a great oral storyteller. She has been writing since she was thirteen years old, starting out as a poet, then moving on to prose and short stories and now novels. She is active in the world of vintage and antique button collecting and was the editor of the Massachusetts State Button Society Bulletin from 2007-2016. She also wasa contributing writer for the Bulletin. She collects Steiff teddy bears and big cats, camels, Eiffel towers, antique and vintage playing cards and charmstrings. Writers who have influenced her include Hemingway, Shirley Jackson, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and others.