In this moving, tender memoir of losing a spouse late in life, the longtime editor of Texas Monthly, newly widowed, returns alone to a city whose enchantment he's only ever shared with his wife, in search of solace, memories, and the courage to find a way forward.At the age of sixty-six, after thirty-five years of marriage, Gregory Curtis finds himself a widower. Tracy—with whom he fell in love the first time he saw her—has succumbed to a long battle with cancer. Paralyzed by grief, agonized by social interaction, Curtis turns to watching magic lessons on DVD—"a pathetic, almost comical substitute" for his evenings with Tracy.To break the spell, he returns to the country where he had the "best and happiest times" of his life. As he navigates this new life and this storied city, Curtis takes us on a grand tour of his days in Paris with Tracy, piecing together the portrait of a woman, a marriage, parenthood, and his life's great love through...

The Cave Painters is a vivid introduction to the spectacular cave paintings of France and Spain--the individuals who rediscovered them, theories about their origins, their splendor and mystery.Gergory Curtis makes us see the astonishing sophistication and power of the paintings and tells us what is known about their creators, the Cro-Magnon people of some 40,000 years ago. He takes us through various theories--that the art was part of fertility or hunting rituals, or used for religious purposes, or was clan mythology--examining the ways interpretations have changed over time. Rich in detail, personalities, and history, The Cave Painters is above all permeated with awe for those distant humans who developed--perhaps for the first time--both the ability for abstract thought and a profound and beautiful way to express it.From the Trade Paperback edition.