The Little Paris Bookshop

Why we love it!

The Little Paris Bookshop is a delightfully told tale, the sort of story that had us laughing and crying from one sentence to the next. It’s a book lover’s book and also a food lover’s book, alternately offering wise nuggets of reading advice and sensual descriptions of food and love.

Monsieur Perdu is a ‘literary apothecary’ – a bookseller who prescribes books for the emotional ills of life.  His ‘shop’ is an old barge moored on the River Seine in the heart of modern day Paris. But it is he who most needs a cure; for twenty-one years he has pined for the love of his life and, with the arrival of a stranger to his apartment block, his life is about to dramatically change course…

After finally opening the letter his lover left him all those years ago, Perdu is roused to action, unmooring the barge and, along with France’s famed young writer Max Jordan and a pair of cats, setting out on a crazy adventure to resolve the ghosts of his past. Along the way he collects a host of other charming characters and they make their way through the French countryside, from Paris to Provence.

Nina George is an award-winning German writer and journalist who has penned more than 26 books. The Little Paris Bookshop was a bestseller in Germany and other European countries, and has been translated into 27 languages.

The Little Paris Bookshop is an audacious quest tale, full of philosophical wisdom on life, death, love, books and French food. We loved the vivid descriptions of French wine country as Perdu and companions travel along the waterways of France. Its evocative images made us want to jump on a plane. But that not being an option, it was the perfect read to transport us to another world. According to Perdu, some books are “friends who wrap you in warm towels when you’ve got those autumn blues.” The Little Paris Bookshop is that kind of book.

 #35 in Australia's Top 100 2016