OPEN - Pierre’s Journey after War is an intimate story of a man whose wife and children are killed during bombardments of France in WWII. Devastated and embittered, Pierre leaves everything behind and embarks on an odyssey to bury his past in the darkest recesses of his mind. The journey, which lasts more than forty years, involves a sequence of events and coincidences that ultimately provide him new direction and a sense of purpose. Pierre feels at home in moving from place to place. When his mission in a specific village or town is accomplished, he wanders once again, observing and savouring whatever life offers. His activities are circumstantial and unpredictable. Intuitively, he remains on the move to reconcile his past while his future stands still. He returns to France an old man. On a day on a walk past vineyards near his former home, Pierre is offered a lift by a couple whose absurd, whimsical presence vividly contrasts with whatever solemn tranquillity he’d found through his consequential journey and search for redemption. Pierre for the first time is inspired to speak of his past.

Louise is a middle-aged woman with a successful career at her marketing agency in New York. On the verge of a stress breakdown, her doctor advises her to take a month holiday in a thermal spa- isolated from her duties. She travels to a small village in France where she meets Madame-Sur-Seine. Madame used to be a famous Cabaret dancer who lived in Paris in the glorious years. Louise is immediately fond of her, and thinks she can help her with her personal affairs—especially her relationships with men. What begins as a daily tea-time meeting chat becomes a training program on pleasure, self-love, and freedom. Louise turns into a sexy and appealing woman—like she has never felt before. Eager to thank the secretive Cabaret dancer on her way back to N.Y., she doesn’t understand why no one answers the door when she knocks at it. She returns to her agency, but she cannot forget Madame. The way she can show her gratitude towards Madame is by applying her lessons to her daily life.

Foreword by poet Jules Clare Margareth Stewart is a seasoned and accomplished author. This is her tenth published book. She lives and works in Brazil and is of Italian extraction. She prides herself in being multilingual and can speak Italian, English, and Portuguese fluently. When not writing Margareth works as a teacher. She relaxes by reading, cooking, jogging, and listening to music. Margareth’s poetry is enthused with life experience and empathy. I am impressed by the poetry’s quality. I drew my own interpretations from it. Only Margareth knows the true meaning of each poem, and that is the way it should be. Margareth writes in several different styles; some traditional, some prose and some with various degrees and formats of rhyme. In fact, the style and structure of each poem is never the same. This stimulated me and challenged me anew in my own interpretation of each poem. Many of the poems made my think of areas where I could develop my own poetry. There are forty-eight pieces of poetry and prose within the book. Many subjects are covered. Margareth talks about maintaining self-worth, promoting positivity and living life to the full. She shows how man is just a pawn in the scheme of things. His threat to Nature, The Universe and humanity is examined. Many pieces reflect on love, isolation and rejection, as well as death, dreams and grief. Margareth stresses that it is time for action, rather than just talking, if we are to save the World from human interference. I was left wondering whether some of the poems were based in the real world or in a dream world. This made me think even more about their meaning. She also writes about the value of a woman’s role in Society. This is an important subject at the moment, and so it should be. My favourite poems are Perfect Dream, Magic, Erotique, I am Sorry, The Nursing, Home, Indepen-dance, 7 Sins, Plastic Age, Favor the Unfavored All in all, I love the book. I recommend it to read and it has been an honour to write an editorial for it. Regards, Jules Clare

Nazi planes were bombing Paris the day a lifelong, more personal war began for Pierre. It was the day he lost his identity. Born into a famous family, Pierre Matisse grew up immersed in the art world of Paris and the French Riviera, spending time with some of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. The man he knew as his grandfather, legendary artist Henri Matisse, encouraged Pierre from a young age, creating a strong desire in him to become a great artist in his own right. Being a Matisse was an important part of young Pierre’s identity. So he was crushed and bewildered when, at the outbreak of WWII, that identity was suddenly snatched from him with no explanation. So began Pierre’s lifelong search to solve the mystery of who he really was, a quest that forms the intriguing backdrop to this memoir of a fascinating and adventurous life on three continents. Spanning the insider art world of 1930s Paris, the battles of WWII, the occupation of France by the Nazis, Pierre’s involvement with the French resistance, his post-war work restoring art and historical monuments, and his eventual decision to create a new life in North America, The Missing Matisse is a story of intrigue, faith, and drama as Pierre journeys to discover the truth―before it’s too late. Pierre Henri Matisse was born in Paris in 1928. Brought up as the grandson of Henri Matisse, Pierre spent his childhood among some of the most famous artists of the twentieth century, including Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. During WWII, Pierre and his father, Jean Matisse, were heavily involved in French underground activities, wanted by the Nazis for their efforts in aiding the British spies and saboteurs. When the war ended, Pierre worked in the restoration of the art and historical monuments in France that were damaged by the war. Now a citizen of the United States, Pierre is best known as “The American Matisse, the Artist of Freedom and Love.” He is devoted to children’s causes and has given or created pieces to help organizations such as Project Hope, The American Red Cross, numerous children’s hospitals, missions organizations, and rescue programs around the world. Pierre and his wife, Jeanne, live in Florida.

A reader's companion for Tolstoy's epic novel, War and Peace, inspired by the online book club led by Yiyun Li. For the writer Yiyun Li, whenever life has felt uncertain, War and Peace has been the novel she turns to. In March 2020, as the pandemic tightened its grip, Li and A Public Space launched #TolstoyTogether, a War and Peace book club, on Twitter and Instagram, gathering a community (that came to include writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Garth Greenwell, and Carl Phillips) for 85 days of prompts, conversation, succor, and pleasure. It was an experience shaped not only by the time in which they read but also the slow, consistent rhythm of the reading. And the extraordinary community that gathered for a moment each day to discuss Tolstoy, history, and the role of art in a time like this. Tolstoy Together captures that moment, and offers a guided, communal experience for past and new readers, lovers of Russian literature, and all those looking for what Li identifies as "his level-headedness and clear-sightedness offer[ing] a solidity during a time of duress.

Demonstrating the centrality of diplomacy in the Vietnam War, Pierre Asselin traces the secret negotiations that led up to the Paris Agreement of 1973, which ended America's involvement but failed to bring peace in Vietnam. Because the two sides signed the agreement under duress, he argues, the peace it promised was doomed to unravel. By January of 1973, the continuing military stalemate and mounting difficulties on the domestic front forced both Washington and Hanoi to conclude that signing a vague and largely unworkable peace agreement was the most expedient way to achieve their most pressing objectives. For Washington, those objectives included the release of American prisoners, military withdrawal without formal capitulation, and preservation of American credibility in the Cold War. Hanoi, on the other hand, sought to secure the removal of American forces, protect the socialist revolution in the North, and improve the prospects for reunification with the South. Using newly available archival sources from Vietnam, the United States, and Canada, Asselin reconstructs the secret negotiations, highlighting the creative roles of Hanoi, the National Liberation Front, and Saigon in constructing the final settlement.

In this delightfully witty, provocative book, literature professor and psychoanalyst Pierre Bayard argues that not having read a book need not be an impediment to having an interesting conversation about it. (In fact, he says, in certain situations reading the book is the worst thing you could do.) Using examples from such writers as Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, and Umberto Eco, he describes the varieties of "non-reading"-from books that you've never heard of to books that you've read and forgotten-and offers advice on how to turn a sticky social situation into an occasion for creative brilliance. Practical, funny, and thought-provoking, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read-which became a favorite of readers everywhere in the hardcover edition-is in the end a love letter to books, offering a whole new perspective on how we read and absorb them.