Paris by the Book

Image credit: Goodreads

This week the literary tone was one of realism and romanticism, as I curled up on the couch with Liam Callanan’s Paris by the Book.

One of those stories where the blurb sounds like one genre, but the book delivers an entirely different experience, this novel is a nice one, perfect for the mindless afternoon when television and snacks are needfully replaced with tea and sunshine.

Paris by the Book tells the story of Leah Eady, an American wife who moves to Paris after her husband disappears. The only clue left for the family was a crumpled note in a cereal box, which led Leah and her daughters to the bustling streets of Paris. Once there, they discover an unfinished manuscript written by her husband, which seems to be chronicling the events. The family lives out the novel, trying to find more clues to Robert’s whereabouts, but soon realise that this is more than a new book, it’s a new life.

Callanan definitely captures the romantic perceptions of Paris; you know, those primarily American ones that absolutely saturate mainstream movies like Julie & Julia and Midnight in Paris. The heroine is totally a mash-up of all those protagonists, and this where the book gets ‘interesting’(?). The artistic romance of Paris is the real focus of the novel, putting the central narrative more or less into the back seat. While this does prove a bit annoying for a fair chunk of the story, once you’re past a certain point and can see how the narrative is backseat-driving, then the pleasanter part of the reading experience takes over.

The changes and developments that happen to the central characters are very subtle, with the search for the missing husband making noise and demanding to be the centre of attention, you don’t see the lovely changes and development of the underlying story until the narrator actively draws attention to it. While this technique can be risky, it’s done quite well here and brings a warmer side to an otherwise quite sad story.

Image credit: Bonjour Paris

I had my dubious feelings early on when I realised that we’ve got a male author inhabiting the voice of a female first-person narrator, and I think the beginning of the book is marred a little by the almost over-the-top romanticism of Paris, but eventually that does get tones down and the character arcs are allowed to naturally take their course at a calm and pleasant pace.

While there is nothing literarily amazing or groundbreaking about this novel, Paris by the Book is nevertheless a sweet and pleasant afternoon read.

Author: Liam Callanan, 2018

Published: First published in Great Britain by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd in 2018.