Literary Feast: The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George was a scrumptious feast. Of words, or books, grief, loss, loneliness and disappointment, friendship, passion,  love, food, land, sea and sky. A story sometimes shocking to me with a bit of the erotic tossed in, as well as humor and sadness and happiness. If this book were a meal I would be stuffed. Go to the link on Amazon and you can buy it or at least listen to a bit of it from Audible.

I won't tell you the story because I hate spoilers but the gist of it is this: A sad and dried up Frenchman takes a journey and has adventures, makes friends, revisits the past and finally purges his disabling grief of two decades to embrace joy and comes back to life. He has withheld from himself anything pleasant that might stir up memories- human touch, good food, scents, friendship, and especially love. There are other fabulous characters as well with their own adventures and journeys and issues. I loved them all, including his Jean's parents. The setting is various parts of France.

(Streets of Paris)

I read the entire thing in a day because I just couldn't put it down. The author is a genius with words and it's easy to see she loves good literature and has accomplished the feat of writing some herself. This was really a book to savor, however, I gobbled it voraciously. As I said, this book was a literary banquet but a moral disappointment. I enjoyed it immensely for the brilliant writing and use of words, the character development, the descriptions of places and foods and feelings so rich I felt, tasted, and saw the story.

I know my review seems a contradiction but...it is what it is.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased written review.

About the Book:

Monsieur Perdu can prescribe the perfect book for a broken heart. But can he fix his own? 
Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.

About the Author

NINA GEORGE works as a journalist, writer, and storytelling teacher. She is the award winning author of 26 books, and also writes feature articles, short stories, and columns. The Little Paris Bookshop spent over a year on bestseller lists in Germany, and was a bestseller in Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands. George is married to the writer Jens J. Kramer and lives in Hamburg and in Brittany, France.