This book was written during one of several trips to Paris, including a six month residence on the rue de Bievre, in the shadow of Notre Dame, where Pines and his wife lived in an apartment owned by the French production company, Initiale, which had optioned the film rights to his novel, The Tin Angel, and commissioned him to write the screen play. The movie was never made, but Pines returned several times thereafter to stay with friends. The book is an exploration of the paradox of time and eternity as experienced in a city haunted by the Celts, Roman legions, gothic artisans, secret societies of Magii and Alchemists working to distill the living essence in what was thought of as the marriage of opposites, in search of which the poet finds himself.