In this mesmerizing, genre-bending debut, Alex Landragin has created an intricate literary puzzle designed to be read either as a first-to-last page narrative or by following an alternative chapter sequence that offers a very different reading experience. A Parisian bookbinder is tasked with binding a manuscript called Crossings for a reputable bibliophile. When he goes to deliver the finished book to her, he learns she has been murdered and mutilated. He believes the crime is somehow connected to the manuscript, so, disregarding his client's wishes, he reads it. What he discovers is a dazzling story consisting of three narratives, each as unlikely as the next. The first is a ghost story penned by infamous nineteenth-century French poet Charles Baudelaire for an illiterate girl. The second is a noir romance set in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation, purporting to be the work of exiled German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin. the third is the fantastical memoir of a woman claiming to inhabit many lives across many lifetimes as she searches for her lost love. As the connections between this cast of unforgettable characters grow wider and deeper, their stories merge into an extraordinary tale of separated lovers held captive by an ancient law, finding and losing love again and again. --Dust jacket

"Crossings is an unforgettable and explosive genre-bending debut-a novel in three parts, designed to be read in two different directions, spanning a hundred and fifty years and seven lifetimes. On the brink of the Nazi occupation of Paris, a German-Jewish bookbinder stumbles across a manuscript called Crossings. It has three narratives, each as unlikely as the next. And the narratives can be read one of two ways: either straight through or according to an alternate chapter sequence. The first story in Crossings is a never-before-seen ghost story by the poet Charles Baudelaire, penned for an illiterate girl. Next is a noir romance about an exiled man, modeled on Walter Benjamin, whose recurring nightmares are cured when he falls in love with a storyteller who draws him into a dangerous intrigue of rare manuscripts, police corruption, and literary societies. Finally, there are the fantastical memoirs of a woman-turned-monarch whose singular life has spanned seven generations. With each new chapter, the stunning connections between these seemingly disparate people grow clearer and more extraordinary. Crossings is an unforgettable adventure full of love, longing and empathy"-- Provided by publisher.