Lauren C. Johnson- “The West Facade”

Lauren C. Johnson, holds a B.S. in Journalism from Emerson College and an MFA in Creative Writing from American University. Her work has appeared in the Orion and The Rumpus. She is the co-host of Babylon Salon, one of the Bay Area’s longest-running literary and performance series, and the co-founder of Club Chicxulub. 

Today, we’re discussing her haunting new novel, “The West Facade.” Set during the plague in Paris, the story begins high above the city walls at Notre Dame Cathedral, where statues stand frozen as centuries pass below them. In an act of grief and devotion, a mourning woman places a citrus fruit into the hands of Sainte Geneviève, and that single offering changes everything. But freedom comes with a devastating cost. To remain human is to accept mortality, decay, and death. To return to the cathedral is to surrender choice and feeling, and exist forever untouched,,, but alone.

Death and life are often spoken of as opposites, but sometimes the most painful moment is not the crossing itself, it’s the choice of whether to cross at all. At the center of today’s conversation is that impossible decision: remain untouched by time, or step fully into a life that will one day break your heart.

West Facade is a story about what it means to truly live. About whether love is worth the certainty of loss. And about the quiet, excruciating courage it takes to choose life, knowing it will not last.