Jake Lamar is the author of the memoir Bourgeois Blues and five novels: The Last Integrationist, Close to the Bone, If Six Were Nine, Rendezvous Eighteenth and most recently Ghosts of Saint-Michel. Several of his books have been translated into French. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, he graduated from Harvard University and then spent six years writing for Time magazine. In 1993, he went to Paris intending to stay for a year; he now lives there full-time with his wife. www.jakelamar.com