Three American girls from very different backgrounds arrive in Paris in the autumn of 1967 for a college year abroad: shy but brainy little Charity, from a Boston Brahmin family; gorgeous Amaleen, West Virginia nouveau riche man-killer; politically-committed Josie, from a prominent African-American family near Chicago. Unlikely roommates, their prejudices fall away as they grow into friendship, but May 1968 shatters their cozy world: the Sorbonne explodes in riots as millions of students and workers revolt and France hurtles toward chaos. The girls flee their Latin Quarter apartment, one to explore—and risk death—in the Dordogne’s prehistoric caves; one to a lavish life in a Loire chateau where hidden terror lurks; one to dangerous exhilaration on the barricades. Along the way they stumble into love: tender, lustful, perverse, and sublime. In only a month they learn far more about who they are and who they want to be. For the Paris Girls Secret Society, life and love will never be the same.
