Moving Forward

What happens when you have lost everything? That’s what happens to Diane, a shopkeeper in Paris. She runs a literary café with her loving, but flighty friend Felix. Life is wonderful when a sudden accident claims the lives of Diane’s husband and her young daughter. She is completely lost. After a year of grieving she decides to go to Ireland. Maybe a change will do her some good.  Happy People Read and Drink Coffee by Agnes Martin-Lugand is a story about coming back to life. The characters are sensitive and familiar. The good news is that a sequel is coming out next year. DB

Choices and Consequences

What happens when a person's past comes to light? Ask Annie Black, lighting designer, doctor's wife and mother of three. Annie spent one year in London when she was 19. She worked for a structural engineer, traveled to Paris, fell for an aloof photographer and met her husband. Sounds simple enough--but there were a few twists that change everything. In A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison we learn the truth about Annie's behavior and her secret obsessions. This book is a warning to think before you act. DB

Adult Book Discussion

Join us Thursday, February 6 at 6:30pm for a discussion of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.

Told from the perspective of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, The Paris Wife creates a snapshot of 1920s Paris and the vibrant, creative people who inhabited it.  Readers follow Hadley from her fateful first meeting with Hemingway, across the Atlantic to the City of Light, and ultimately back again as their marriage deteriorates.  Along the way, Hadley struggles with her place both in Hemingway's life and amongst the eccentric personalities she encounters.  HM

A Novel of the French Revolution

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran details Tussaud's Wax Museum in Paris during the start of the French Revolution.  Parisians who wanted to see the fashions and events of the day would flock to Tussauds, where tableau's of current happenings were changed frequently.  Once Marie Tussaud received the King and Queen's seal of approval her business boomed and she caught the attention of the King's sister Elisabeth, becoming her royal tutor in wax sculpting.  Even as she befriends the royals, revolution is building and patriots flock to her 'salon' for talk of the upcoming revolution.  This book focuses on the time period known as the Reign of Terror and is a fascinating slice of history written in a readable, fast paced style.  Not to be missed!  SG

The Dark Past

Julia Jarmond, an American writer who is living in Paris, is connected to a very dark time in French history. While on assignment to research the 60th anniversary of the Velodrome d’Hiver roundups, the mass arrest of Jews in 1942 occupied Paris, she discovers a link to her husband’s family. The apartment they have inherited was once occupied by a Jewish family named Starzynski. The only survivor was 10 year-old Sarah. Julia is determined to uncover the connection between her in-laws and this family. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is captivating. As Julia works tirelessly to unearth secrets from the past she manages to find a brighter path to her future. DB