By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
“Nobody comes to a brothel seeking a true story. It’s what I tell myself, sipping the coffee devoid of chicory…” These are the opening words in Maria Elena Sandovici’s novel, “The Glory Days of Aimée Bonnard.”
Though I do not know what chicory is, and it is mentioned throughout the novel, never once did I feel compelled to google the word. The book was so captivating, leaving it to come to the present world felt like it would take away from my surreal experience as a reader.
In “The Glory Days of Aimée Bonnard,” the protagonist, Aimée Bonnard leapt out of the book. While I read page after page, her life unfolded vividly as though she had somehow set her life down right next to me. I was immediately curious as to what story would be told through this example of historical fiction, presented as a first-person account of prostitution.
The novel carried me into an era that I have only heard of — the era of brothels and prostitution on Galveston Island.
Aimée Bonnard has left a secret behind, a somewhat questionable, shadowy, grand finale in New Orleans which has propelled her to begin anew on a glamourous island known for its many brothels. Though she is starting over, her secret past life does not stay as secret as she would have wished.
During her first week or so upon arriving on the island, she spends time lingering with her coffee and exploring her new surroundings. There are walks down to the beach, trips into Galveston’s once well-known dressmaker shops and strolls on The Strand.
After weaving untruths about her past, she successfully secures a position in the most sought-after brothel.
Not only does she intend to have the best clients in all of Galveston, but also she sets herself apart from the other working girls by insisting upon having her own bedroom, a separate one from the room in which she shares herself with her clients.
The novel moves rather quickly, and each chapter is often its own story. I was drawn to turn the page and read another chapter in the life of Miss Aimée Bonnard.
The descriptions of human relationships, emotions and detangling those emotions create a sense that the author has a background in psychology. But that is not the case. Maria Elena Sandovici holds a doctorate in political science.
For 20 years she worked in universities, first as a teacher’s assistant while she completed her doctorate in upstate New York. Then, she spent fourteen years as a professor of political science at Lamar University.
While on a research assignment abroad, Sandovici pulled out watercolor paints and brushes and dipped into her true self, an artist. At this time, she also began her early work as a novelist.
Sandovici left her stable, tenured position in academia to pursue her heart’s desire to be a full-time writer and artist. Though her previous career had been a stable one, it was “boring,” she said, and she has no regrets transitioning into a different vocation.
While working and living in Beaumont, Texas, Sandovici had spent many weekends and holidays enjoying Galveston.
She soaked in all the lore of its past along with its salty air, and the relaxed feelings she experienced while cultivating numerous friendships as a repeat visitor to the island.
“I met all the hippies on the island hanging out at Oasis Juice Bar, Yoga Haven and the Farmers Market,” Sandovici said.
Her first home after Baumont was in Houston where she embarked on crafting novels set in Galveston. To this point she has written four books set in Galveston.
“Storms of Malhaldo,” published in 2020, is a novel set during Hurricane Ike. Later that same year came “The Glory Days of Aimée Bonnard, which Sandovici reports was written during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Of course I needed to write about the Roaring Twenties,” Sandovici said, and thus was born “Galveston 1922.”
“Lola is Never Drinking Again” is her fourth novel set in Galveston, and as I am making my way through the pages, I am again captivated with her characters whose lives seem to be happening in real time right in front of me.
After tiring of investing in hotel rooms for her island research and getaways, in October 2024, Sandovici purchased a home in one of Galveston’s historic districts.
She lives with Holly, her dog, who has lost her hearing. Her art, which is mostly very lively and cheerful, adorns the walls, floors, shelves, antique dressing table and mantelpiece of her shotgun home in Galveston. This home also serves as a private gallery in which her clients can celebrate art parties and purchase art.
She retained her home in Houston, which she describes as smaller than the one on the island, and there she also hosts art parties and art clients.
Sandovici the artist and novelist surrounds herself with creative friendships and works almost nonstop as a writer, artist and promoter of her work. She tends to all the business aspects of her artistic expressions as a one-woman show.
Some of her readers have asked if she has — ahem — been a “working girl, she only remembers laughing when asked such a question.
Sandovici is a multi-lingual woman who demonstrates through her novels’ keen insights into the hearts and minds of humans and their behaviors. Perhaps 20 years of teaching at the collegiate level gave her such keen insight into human nature.
I will be reading more of her novels set in Galveston and will share with my readers a bit about each novel. If you would like to know more about Sandovici’s work or purchase it, visit https://www.facebook.com/mesandovici/.
