Elevate Difference  The Woman with the Bouquet  Eric-Emmanuel
Schmitt was been described as one of Europe’s most beloved
authors and just a few pages into the first of the five short
stories that comprise The Woman with the Bouquet, I began to
seriously doubt that claim. Initially, “The Dreamer from Ostend”
seemed heavy-handed and awkward in its formality, so much in
fact that I found it difficult to focus on the story. However, I
trudged forward, and I’m happy that I did. I blame the jerky
translation, but once you get past that you’ll be drawn into the
secretive world of Emma Von A, an old, “invalid” inn-keeper who
shares her deepest secret and most severe heartbreak with a
young writer who’s staying at her inn hoping to recover from his
own love-related sadness. Family members, such as her niece,
tell the writer that Emma Van A has essentially led a lonely,
suicide-inducing life; a life spent dreaming and staring out
windows. What they don’t know is that Emma has a burning secret,
so pure and true that it’