The Stewardess’s Diary – Part Seven: France

SM Pratt, The Stewardess’s Diary, part VII, (France, Paris).

As an ARC reader I received a free copy. I promised a review. Here it is.

For me English is a foreign language. So, sorry for the errors.

Judgment: 4 stars (of 5).

In general: Unexpected turn in general plot; some questions about Paris stories.

Main characters:
– Charlie, a veteran pilot for an international airline; narrator in this book.
– Mystery stewardess, writes a diary about her sexual adventures during 10 trips, told in 10 episodes. This book is the 6th trip (to a miscellaneous spa in Bangkok).

Charlie discovered the very personal journal in his briefcase. He has no idea how it appeared in his possession. He reads the diary and he has mixed feelings. The mystery stewardess should be punished for her sexual behavior and the way she ignores airline regulations, but he is also fascinated by her sexual exploits, her willingness to experiment and her changing opinion about relations and love, while gradually loosing her naivete during the 10 episodes.

Around 6 o’clock in the morning the mystery stewardess gets a phone call from maître Nicholas Lancelot. He’s an Parisian lawyer and informs her that Gabrielle Andrews, her aunt (mother’s sister), recently died and he wants her in Paris to talk about her aunt’s inheritance. He orders her to keep the succession situation a secret for her mother. She agrees, but makes a mental note to call her mother to ask more info about her aunt for she wasn’t very close to her. She herself saw her aunt for the last time a few months ago in a fancy New York restaurant, but wants to know more about her before going to France.
This creates for the reader the first question. The much needed info-call is never again mentioned in the story. Why not?

A week later she flies to Paris. This time as a passenger and not as a crew member.

Arriving in Paris she describes two stories which have little or nothing in common.
1. The stewardess, who lived for years in Paris, meets old friends (Renée) and attends the wedding of an ex boyfriend, Ady, she once loved very deeply. In general seeing old acquaintances (and especially Ady and his perfect bride) causes her feelings of pain, hurt and anger.
That brings this reader to two questions
a. The stewardess is an independent woman. Why is she easily persuaded by friend Renée to attend Ady’s wedding? She doesn’t want to go, for it will cause her pain.
b. Why persuades Renée the stewardess to go, while she almost for sure knows that it will make the stewardess very unhappy? Only for her own entertainment? You do that to a friend you didn’t see for years and you never had a disagreement with? Why so bitchy?
During the wedding reception the stewardess drinks to much. Next morning she awakens in her hotelroom, naked and with paint-rests on her body from a mime, a painted immobile man, she saw during the wedding. Apparently she had sex with him. But she remembered nothing, so we find nothing about it in her diary.

2. Then the main reason for her Paris trip: the inheritance of her aunt Gabriella. She meets Gabriella’s trusted lawyer Nicholas Lancelot in his office. He tells her that Gabriella owned a fancy, exclusive brothel with the local elite as clients. And he was her private legal advisor and intimate. She, the stewardess, was mentioned in her will as heiress. Then he shows her a video, recorded a few months before her death. Her aunt explains why she thinks the stewardess is suitable for running the brothel with Nicholas as her experienced lawyer. During their last meeting she sensed that the stewardess’s personality was matured, so the should inherit her business if she wanted. If not, Nicholas would inherit her business, but she hoped that Nicholas could convince her to accept the inheritance. She urgently asks the stewardess never to mention her job to her mother, for her sister isn’t open minded. So the stewardess’s mother will have a bad memory of her if she discovers the real lifestyle of her sister. As soon as the stewardess has overcome her hangover from the wedding, she meets Nicholas again. He shows her the brothel. It’s evening and there will be clients. So, to not stand out, they wear the same outfit as the servants and clients: Nicholas a tuxedo and the stewardess a dress of her aunt (who had the familiar size and figure as her niece). Nicholas shows her a luxurious, splendid castle with beautiful (bed)rooms looking out on well tended gardens. Plus a control room with monitors and pictures made by security camera’s. This room was also the bedroom that her aunt used sometimes. Gabriella had no other house; she often lived in the apartments of her lovers (and/or clients). After the ‘grand tour’ the stewardess decides to learn the bussiness better by operating as a hostess for the clients. She meets a good looking man (without wedding ring) and has very satisfying sex with him. After showing her the books of her aunt’s business, Nicholas drives the stewardess back to her hotel and asks her if she ‘ll accept the inheritance. She passes, for she refuses to run a brothel that will help married men to cheat on their wife.
And that brings this reader to his last question:
The stewardess admires the castle, the luxury rooms and salons, the gardens and she enjoyed the hostess-job and then she refuses without any discussion an inheritance which wil make her a wealthy woman? Why? Only she is against married men cheating on their wives? And that in France, where married men (and women) have a certain reputation in their love life behaviour? And she knows that perhaps it will be possible to change the brothel in a way that also married women and homosexuals can enjoy that institution, why not try this option? Is she perhaps with her quick refusal somewhat overreacting, because of bad experiences in her former relations?
Next day, before traveling back home, the stewardess has her doubts. She talks into Nicholas’s voicemail and tells him to forget her refusal, she needs more time to think and will give him her decision as soon as she knows what she wants. So this part of the story ends with a real cliffhanger.

As usual Charlie reads the episode and flies to Paris to investigate the identity of the stewardess, he is gradually obsessed with. This time he travels with his friend and co-pilot Bob and Bob’s wife Stacy. Also a little bit as usual their research is somewhat clumsy: for hours waiting outside the gate of the castle, following a female servant to her house in the middle of the night, then loosing her and by chance meeting her again in a night cafe they visit at random. But clumsy or not: Charlie discovers two important things. First, friend Bob and his wife Stacy have a free lifestyle marriage and that opens opportunities for Charlie and further, Bob finally hears the name of the mystery stewardess: Sophia or Sofia.

Reading this episode I had a double feeling. There were some illogical events that left me with question marks in my brain (see my questions). On the other hand I had much admiration for the author. In a former review of an episode I judged the plot intelligent and original. But in this book she succeeds in adding a new, interesting element to the plot: the possibility of a complete new career for Sophia with unknown chances to develop her personality. Well done, Mademoiselle Pratt!

R.J. Huiszoon.