In 1986 after graduating from college, Eden decides to follow the literary roots of many African-Americans who lived in Paris in the twenties. She knows about Hughes and Baker after hearing about their bios from her adopted parents. Like her heroes who lived in France before her, Eden plans to earn some income by performing menial tasks beneath most of the natives even as she seeks her freedom to write the great novel. However, though the tasks for the most part could be performed by anyone, Eden finds her employers constantly giving her demeaning instructions.
Freedom seems buried under an avalanche of bureaucratic nonsense.
However, the employer bureaucracy consists of ordinary people such as two parents and an artist. Eden finds a bit of freedom when she turns to minor thievery after meeting and falling in love with a West Indian expatriate. Turning desperate to at least meet the great Baldwin, Eden wonders if freedom is just another seven-letter word. Though the tips on being an American in Paris slows down the tale, the look inside at the rich heritage is a far cry from Gene Kelly in this interesting and fun to read novel. Eden is an intriguing character as she struggles between the wonderful dreams of the free life that her family painted to her about American Blacks in Paris and her own inability to taste any of it.