Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names and The Winemaker's Wife, returns with a captivating new novel about several intertwined stories of love, loss, courage, and redemption set over the course of one magical week in Paris.
Nine Americans in Paris. Seven intertwined love stories. One City of Light.
Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love, loss, and finding your way home, all set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris.
Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for the first time—but they know it will also be their last trip here together. Julia is dying, and as the mother and daughter desperately try to make memories together as the clock ticks down, the world opens up around them. Piper meets a cute French waiter, who might just understand her better than anyone she’s ever met, and Julia meets a man at a dive bar and struggles with how to tell him the truth about her future.
Rock star Jackson Quick’s glory days are behind him. He had a handful of hit songs thirty years ago, but he hasn’t toured in a decade. This week, he’ll launch his reunion tour in Paris, the city where it all began. But he wants more out of life than being defined by fame. When he meets a woman who finally sees him for who he is at his core, the ground shifts beneath his feet.
Henry McGee has been writing hit songs for decades—including Jackson Quick’s biggest hit, City of Light. But his secret is that every love song he’s ever written is for a woman named Celeste, whom he loved a lifetime ago, when they were both teenagers in Paris during World War II. He has spent eighty years believing she died—but when a letter arrives telling him the opposite, he’s on the first flight to France. Can he break through the haze of her dementia, using the songs he’s written all these years, to remind her of who they once were to each other—and to tell her he came back for her?
Henry’s granddaughter, Melody, has just discovered that her husband of twenty years, Gilles, a French cosmetics executive, is having an affair. When she confronts him, he tearfully apologizes and begs her to forgive him. But can she? And, perhaps even more importantly, does she want to? Or is there a different kind of life out there for her if she chooses to be alone?
These intertwining stories—plus several others—unfold over a few breathtaking spring days, as an unforgettable group of Americans in Paris must find their way to their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light.
Beautiful connections
"I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to follow all the different characters given the varying point of views and names to keep track of. I immediately sympathized with many of the characters and was pulled into their lives, rooting for them to find a way to overcome their struggles. It was sweet to see how their lives intersected. It reminded me of how everyone we cross paths with is living a different life with different scenarios and facing their own struggles. It was interesting to see it highlighted in this story given all the character connections. For example, a group of women is having a divorce party at a table across from a mother and daughter who are relishing in their last trip together while the divorced woman wishes she could be young again like the daughter without a clue about how grief-stricken the young girl is. It was also heartwarming to see people in the later phases of life figure out their identities and dreams like they're still works in progress even after a few decades of living. I found it oddly comforting. Overall, this story weaves together several messy, authentic storylines that are beautifully different, yet similar and connected."
