For readers who have been drawn toThe Paris Wifeor Woody Allen’sMidnight in Paris,Black Venuscaptures the artistic scene in the great French city decades earlier, when the likes ofDumas and Balzac argued literature in the cafes of the Left Bank. Amongst the bohemians the young Charles Baudelaire stood outdressed impeccably thanks to an inheritance that was quickly vanishing. Still at work on the poems which he hoped would make his name, he spent his nights enjoying the alcohol, opium, and women who filled the seedy streets of the city.One woman would catch his eye a beautiful Haitian cabaret singernamed Jeanne Duval. Their lives would remain forever intertwined thereafter, and their romance would inspire his most infamous poemsleading to the banning of his masterworkLes Fleurs du Maland a scandalous public trial for obscenity.Black Venusrecreates the classic Parisian literary world in vivid detail, complete with not just an affecting portrait of the famous poet but also his often misunderstood, much-maligned muse.