Debra Finerman has lived in many exciting places—Tokyo, the wine country of Northern California, Beverly Hills, New York and Greenwich, but ever since she first glimpsed Paris from her train window, she felt she had come home. Her favorite authors are Balzac, Flaubert, Stendhal, Zola and Proust, whom she has read in French and in English. She never misses the chance to visit Balzac’s house in the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris to pay homage.
After graduating from UCLA, Debra began writing in Los Angeles under her pen name, Debra Lewis. She co-created a column called It’s A Rap for the monthly Hollywood Reporter Magazine, covering the Entertainment Industry. She was Associate Editor of the cool TV magazine, Tube, before launching her own publication, Beverly Hills Magazine, as co-Editor. When she moved to the East Coast, she was a contributing writer for Capital Style magazine.
A hiatus from journalism allowed her the chance to pursue her other passion, art history. She was accepted into the prestigious Christie's Education program for Connoisseurship and the Art Market receiving a New York State Board of Regents accredited graduate degree.
During her year of academic research at Christie's, she became intrigued by the events and personalities of Impressionist Paris. After graduation while working at Christie's, Debra attended an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of French nineteenth century photographs featuring the tempestuous Countess of Castiglione. She wandered upstairs to the Impressionist galleries and sat before a portrait of Victorine Meurent, Manet’s model and muse. At that moment, an idea was born which became her first novel, Mademoiselle Victorine.
