What Stanford student doesn't know about the University's significant collection of Rodin sculptures? Locals and visitors alike are frequently transfixed by The Gates of Hell or the Burghers of Calais, but alumna Betsy Franco has taken art appreciation to a new level: She credits the Rodin Sculpture Garden with inspiring her new novel, Naked (Tyrus).
Franco, '69, is prolific and then some—when Stanford profiled her four years ago, she'd written more than 80 children's books and was about to publish her first book for young adults. Naked marks her debut writing adult novels. The story unfolds on campus, where the teenage Jesse, a summer student, touches a Rodin sculpture. His touch—like that of Aladdin's on the magic lamp—releases a teenage girl called Cat, who turns out to be a reincarnation of Camille Claudel, in real life a sculptor in her own right and Rodin's lover. Jesse and Cat's love story ensues, in tandem with a double coming-of-age journey.
