If I Promise You Wings

by A.K. Small

Overview

Hold Still meets You've Reached Sam in this lyrical novel about one young woman's journey through the Paris fashion scene as she chases promises, overcomes grief, and falls in love.

Alix Leclaire has a plan: graduate high school and land her dream job as a feather artist at Mille et une Plume, where her creations will help define high fashion. Her best friend Jeanne will get a record contract and they’ll take over the Paris art scene together. 

But then Jeanne dies.

Alix is lost, until the day she feels Jeanne pushing her to the feather boutique. Soon, Alix is living a life she hardly recognizes—pursuing a passionate affair with an alluring artist, stealing feathers for her own creations, risking everything as Jeanne once did. But then Alix meets Blaise, the dreamy musician who comforts her, centers her, challenges her. 

Torn between two beautiful boys and coping with grief, Alix’s art takes on a frightening and wild beauty. Living like Jeanne has given her everything she thought she wanted—but she must decide whether to hide in Jeanne’s shadow or soar on her own wings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643750286
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	01/16/2024
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	389,719
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

A.K. Small is a French-American writer. She was born in Paris, France, fell in love with ballet at a young age, and grew up in the 9th arrondissement, in Toulouse Lautrec’s old loft. She moved to Richmond, Virginia at age fifteen and has lived in various American cities. She’s a graduate of The College of William and Mary and has an MFA in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her first novel, Bright Burning Stars was adapted to film as Birds of Paradise. When she’s not writing, she spends time with her husband, her daughters, and her dog. Visit her online at aksmallwords.com.

Editorial Reviews

10/23/2023

Small (Bright Burning Stars) transports readers to Paris in this dreamy portrait of grief, fashion, and love. White 17-year-old Alix Leclaire and her best friend since childhood, Jeanne, have a pact to achieve their greatest dreams—Alix will become a renowned feather artist by apprenticing with Mademoiselle Salomé and Jeanne will become a famous rock star. When Jeanne is killed in a car accident shortly after graduation, Alix is left reeling, with only their pact and her goal as a guidepost. With Jeanne’s vivacious voice ringing in her head and urging her on, Alix approaches Mademoiselle Salomé and receives an internship at her boutique, Mille et Une Plume. But the world of fashion and feathers is a cutthroat, complicated place, made even more complex by the amorous attentions of two divergent suitors: Raven, Mademoiselle Salomé’s gorgeous artist son, and Jeanne’s musician friend Blaise. Unhurried, ethereal prose works well to present this fanciful rendition of learning how to move on. Elements of seemingly unlimited freedom, found family, impossible dreams, and dancing on the Eiffel Tower in the rain make this lyrical novel a sure thing for romantics and Francophiles alike. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Small transports readers to Paris in this dreamy portrait of grief, fashion, and love… Unhurried, ethereal prose works well to present this fanciful rendition of learning how to move on. Elements of seemingly unlimited freedom, found family, impossible dreams, and dancing on the Eiffel Tower in the rain make this lyrical novel a sure thing for romantics and Francophiles alike.”—Publishers Weekly

"Set in dazzling, breathtaking Paris, If I Promise You Wings draws readers into Small’s vibrant world of plumes... A sparkling, unusual novel."—Booklist

"Readers will feel quickly at home among the feather bins at Mille et une Plume and get swept up in the life Alix creates for herself.... Her steamy romantic entanglements with the shop owner’s charming son and Jeanne’s friend, a guitarist, will satisfy romance-lovers, though it doesn’t detract from Alix’s story of working toward her dreams and reckoning with her memory of her late friend.
VERDICT A charming story of personal growth that glitters with the art and culture of modern Paris."
 —School Library Journal

"A prettily executed account of a young woman learning how to spread her wings… Readers will remain intrigued by the locale and atmosphere until the finale."—Kirkus Reviews

"If I Promise You Wings is a beautiful masterpiece—vivid, immersive, and a heart-wrenching depiction of grief and healing. A. K. Small has written absolute magic."—Rachael Lippincott, New York Times bestselling author of Five Feet Apart

"A. K. Small is a conjurer of precise beauty. If I Promise You Wings is an exquisite tale of artistic ambition, the dreams of youth, the weight of friendship, and (of course) the thing with feathers. If you know, you know. An absolute stunner of a novel."—Anna Godbersen, bestselling author of the Luxe series

From the Publisher

02/01/2024

Gr 9 Up—Alix is a recently graduated Parisian teen who is perhaps feeling more adrift than the average 17-year-old. Her mother left the family when she was young, her musician father is frequently absent, and her best friend and the most consistent companion, Jeanne, died in a car crash soon after graduation. The one thing Alix has left to hold onto is her dream of becoming a high-fashion feather artist, which she seems one step closer to when she gets a job at the boutique of the most prestigious feather artist in the city. Alix hopes to work her way up to become Madame Salomé's apprentice, however, the road to artistic greatness is not easy. While Alix hones her talents, she also processes her friend's passing, makes friends, and explores romance. Readers will feel quickly at home among the feather bins at Mille et une Plume and get swept up in the life Alix creates for herself among fellow artists, musicians, and even nobility. Her steamy romantic entanglements with the shop owner's charming son and Jeanne's friend, a guitarist, will satisfy romance-lovers, though it doesn't detract from Alix's story of working toward her dreams and reckoning with her memory of her late friend. VERDICT A charming story of personal growth that glitters with the art and culture of modern Paris.—Joanna Harris

School Library Journal

2023-10-07
After her best friend’s death, a 17-year-old French girl makes the leap to becoming a feather artist in a Parisian boutique.

Alix Leclaire can rarely express her feelings, whether it’s not wanting her father to leave for weeks at a time to pursue his musical ambitions or her frustrations with best friend Jeanne, who prioritizes boys and partying over their friendship. After Jeanne dies in a car crash, Alix pushes past her shyness and approaches Mademoiselle Salomé, owner of the boutique Mille et Une Plume, about an apprenticeship, soon setting herself on a path of romance. Flirtatious Raven, Mademoiselle Salomé’s son, brings an element of fun into Alix’s life, while Blaise, a boy from Alix’s past, grounds her with his cozy qualities and talent with the guitar. But even as the boutique begins to craft wings for the Moulin Rouge, feeding Alix’s dreams, she must figure out what she wants to do and who she wants to be with. Although the book has a slight overabundance of tragic backstories, the melancholy tone is balanced against vivid descriptions of the fashion elements and moments of spontaneity to create a romantic, theatrical mood. French is sprinkled throughout, firmly cementing the Parisian setting. While full catharsis remains just out of reach, readers will remain intrigued by the locale and atmosphere until the finale. Alix and Blaise are coded white; Raven and his mother have brown skin.

A prettily executed account of a young woman learning how to spread her wings. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews