Leesa Cross-Smith's new novel explores the intricacies of love and self-discovery

A woman named Vincent is at the center of “Half-Blown Rose,” the latest novel by Leesa Cross-Smith. She’s also the author of “This Close to Okay,” and her earlier novel “So We Can Glow” was listed as one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. Cross-Smith joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to talk about her new story’s protagonist named after Vincent Van Gogh, and how she discovers her resilience after a major betrayal.

Vincent’s cataclysmic moment that begins her new life:

“The man she’d been married to for 25 years – his name was Cillian – he’s a writer, and he wrote a bestselling novel or ‘slash’ auto-fiction. He doesn’t quite want to say whether it’s all true or not, but [he is] divulging secrets that he’s kept from her their entire marriage,” said Cross-Smith. “So she reads it and decides that she’s going to leave him, at least for now, and she doesn’t want to see him for a year. So she leaves and goes to Paris.”