Les Beaux Chateaux

A father and son, duty bound by business, live continents apart. Will their legacy keep them together, or are they destined to drift?

Father and son Victor and JP were never close, the distance between them only widening after the death of Frida, JP’s mother and Victor’s wife. Though they now run Les Beaux Châteaux together, they do it from separate continents. Victor lives in France and finds beautiful historical pieces with a classic French aesthetic. JP runs their New York storefront, selling Victor’s carefully curated artifacts to customers eager for old-world elegance. The separation works well for them—until Victor has an accident and JP has to return to France.

Back in France, JP takes on Victor’s role of cannibalizing homes, businesses, and sometimes whole towns that haven’t survived the changing culture. While doing so, he meets Veronique, the founder of a preservationist organization called Whole France. Intrigued by Veronique’s passion, though conflicted, JP joins her cause to create sustainable economic support for historic French villages. When he returns to New York, a devastating betrayal threatens his own family’s legacy. Will JP and Victor find their way back to each other and save Les Beaux Châteaux? Or will their life’s work be phased out with the new cultural vogues?

Dorothy Mackevich Marks is a Chicago-based writer, screenwriter, and producer with a passion for unique and exquisite things and their history. Early in her career, Dorothy worked with preservationists in Chicago to conserve and repurpose historic movie palaces—beautiful architectural confections that stimulate the senses. Her passion for the stories that artifacts can tell multiplied when she joined the community of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. Working arm-in-arm with museum scientists and policy makers, she examines the future of encyclopedic museums, teaching and preserving while doing no harm.

With an eye toward function and beauty, Dorothy passionately brings fresh news from the past to curious and sophisticated audiences who want to learn from inspired cultures. Always a midwesterner, her wanderlust began early, and, aside from the pandemic year, she travels when opportunity knocks to listen, learn, and share. Dorothy lives on the banks of Lake Michigan with her family and two cats. Visit her at dorothymarks.com.