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Summary
Summary
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop , an extraordinary novel about self-discovery and new beginnings.
Marianne is stuck in a loveless, unhappy marriage. After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as "the end of the world."
Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all seem to have, taking pleasure in life's small moments. And, as the parts of herself she had long forgotten return to her in this new world, Marianne learns it's never too late to begin the search for what life should have been all along.
With all the buoyant charm that made The Little Paris Bookshop a beloved bestseller, The Little French Bistro is a tale of second chances and a delightful embrace of the joys of life in France.
Author Notes
Nina George was born on August 30, 1973 in Bielefeld Germany. Shs is a German writer, best known as the author of The Little Paris Bookshop. She has published 26 books (novels, mysteries and non-fiction) as well as over hundred short stories and more than 600 columns. George has worked as a cop reporter, columnist and managing editor for a wide range of publications, including Hamburger Abendblatt, Die Welt, Der Hamburger, as well as TV Movie and Federwelt. In 2012 and 2013 she won the DeLiA and the Glauser-Prize. In 2014, she delivered the keynote address in Berlin at the German Writer¿s Conference to 140 attending writers. She made the New York Tmes Best Seller List in 2015 with her title The Little Paris Bookshop.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
George, author of The Little Paris Bookshop, returns with a refreshing and well-crafted novel set along the coast of Brittany in northern France, proving that it is never too late to change your life. Marianne Messmann is a 60-year-old German woman whose 40 years of married life have been dictated by her verbally abusive husband, Lothar. While on a trip to Paris, Marianne decides that she really has nothing left to live for and decides to end it all in the Seine. Even as she bemoans her rescue in a Paris hospital room, Lothar constantly criticizes her. She decides to start anew and walks out of the hospital and on to a new life. Marianne makes the journey to the coast of Brittany, where she is charmed by the village of Kerdruc. While there, Marianne works as an assistant to a chef, makes a host of new and unique friendships, and even finds love. Marianne is an easy character to identify with in her quest to find meaning in her life. The idyllic seaside village setting is evocative, and the supporting characters are memorable and believable. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A suicidal German woman travels to the French coast, intending to drown herself in the sea, but the allure of a quaint seaside village leads her to continually delay her plans.Marianne Messman has had enough of her miserable life, especially her cold, controlling husband. After 41 years of marriage, she decides to escape her despair during a package trip to Paris by jumping into the Seine. To her great disappointment, she's pulled from the water by a homeless man and sent directly to the hospital. Stalwart in her resolve to end her life, Marianne absconds from the facility and travels west to Brittany, intending simply to walk deep into the sea. When she arrives in the coastal town of Kerdruc, a series of comical events leads her into a charming French bistro that caters to fishermen and tourists. Although Marianne doesn't speak French, she somehow ends up in the bistro kitchen, assisting the lovesick, distracted head chef. Within just a few hours at this quaint restaurant, Marianne is introduced to a bewitching cast of characters as well as sensual and spiritual aspects of life that were previously unknown to her. As she grows increasingly excited by new discoveries, which range from the exquisite delight of tasting fresh oysters to the pleasure of wearing brightly colored clothing, Marianne struggles with what to do about her estranged husband and her plans for the future. Translated from its original German, George's (The Little Paris Bookshop, 2015, etc.) engrossing novel is as much about indulging the senses with succulent dishes and dazzling sights as it is about romance and second chances. With a profound sense of place and sensuous prose, the novel functions as a satisfying virtual visit to the French Riviera. A luscious and uplifting tale of personal redemption in the tradition of Eat, Pray, Love. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Marianne has been stuck in a loveless and unhappy marriage for 41 years, spiraling deeper and deeper into a depression she can't even name. She runs away to Paris late one night, vowing to leap into the Seine and let the river wash her problems away. A quick-thinking bystander saves her life, and Marianne decides to flee to a seaside village in northern France. Still unsure of how her life is meant to unfold, she takes a temporary job as a cook in a seaside restaurant, savoring new tastes of life in the briny oysters and crisp wine. Other senses are also awakened when a kindhearted painter arouses feelings Marianne thought were lost forever. When her husband arrives in Brittany with new promises of undying love, Marianne is faced with her toughest decision yet. George envelops the reader in the sights, sounds, and smells of the coastal town, heightening Marianne's new experiences with lush descriptions of Breton life. Fans of Elizabeth Gilbert and Isabel Allende will adore this courageous story of new beginnings, second chances, and the power of self-love.--Turza, Stephanie Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
just as les grandes vacances are winding down, two romantic novels take readers on redemption romps along France's briny Breton coast. The escapades in "The Little French Bistro" by Nina George and "A French Wedding" by Hannah Ttmnicliffe track the reinventions of two very different protagonists: one an unhappily married German housewife whose stingy husband reproaches her for buying expensive Champagne on their anniversary; the other a faded rock star celebrating his 40 th birthday and keen to finally marry his best friend. Both lonely hearts are looking for love when they land in their Breton versions of La France Profonde. "The Little French Bistro" begins on Paris's Pont Neuf, seconds before Marianne Messmann hoists herself into the Seine in a desperate attempt to abandon 41 years of marital misery. Despite her resolve to give up, however, a blue-eyed, homeless Frenchman rescues her onto the quai and initiates her inward awakening. In the hospital, after her cruel and self-absorbed husband dismisses her as clinically depressed, Marianne stumbles upon a tile painted with a maritime scene of the French port of Kerdruc. The picture inspires her realization that her life has consisted mostly of "unlived moments," and she musters the courage to flee her current entrapment and seek long-awaited fulfillment in the idyllic French town. Upon stepping off the moored boat onto its shores, Marianne encounters a village of characters who regularly convene at a bistro called the Ar Mor. Each local has his or her own cross to bear: Emile and his wife suffer from Parkinson's and dementia, respectively; Yann Game, the aforementioned tile's handsome artist, cowers from his own potential "greatness," according to Colette, the middle-aged galleriste. Then there is Laurine, a naive and beautiful waitress who has captured the heart of Jean-Rémy, the restaurant's chef; Paul and Simon, two wise if washed-up old friends; and Madame Ecollier, the establishment's bossy proprietor. Marianne doesn't speak French, but she manages to get a cooking job at the Ar Mor after saving Jean-Rémy from oversalting his stew, applying skills from her decades-long domesticity. In this ancient landscape dotted with fields of menhirs and mythical forests, Marianne and her new friends live out a fairy tale about salvation at 60. Along the way, George stops time and again to savor Brittany's delicacies - from a Belon oyster washed down with a glass of Muscadet to a buttery kouign-amann cake; scallops with cider apples to cotriade, a local fish stew - embracing the true flavors of a land that "shapes people ... not the other way around." Some of the plot twists are clunky, especially when Marianne falls hard for Yann deep in the forest of Brocéliande, under the oak trees that surround Merlin's grave, ground zero for Breton folklore. When Marianne's husband shows up to beg for her forgiveness, she dismisses him, then briefly takes him back, before finally realizing where her heart belongs. In Ttinnicliffe's story, we first meet Juliette, a Parisian chef who must relinquish her "dream" restaurant in the city to return to her native village of Douarnenez and care for her aging father after her mother's death. Upon returning home, Juliette gets a job as a home chef and housekeeper for Max, the rock musician, and becomes entangled in his friends' lives over the course of his 40 th birthday weekend celebration. There's Helen, Max's elusive love interest; Nina the brainy publisher and her stay-athome husband, Lars; Rosie, a jewelry designer, and her unlikable husband, Hugo; and Max's friend Eddie brings a young, bikini-clad girlfriend, Beth. The motley group is happy to be together and even happier to feast on traditional regional dishes like salt-marsh lamb. Ttmnicliffe sets the proverbial table with plenty of plot twists and surprising character sketches - an unwanted pregnancy threatens to divide a couple, a clandestine lesbian affair ends abruptly and an ominous diagnosis disrupts Max's festivities. There are happy surprises, too, including a kouign-amann wedding cake. But despite the fact that "A French Wedding" is purportedly about old friends reuniting around a festive table groaning with homemade food, the author never actually serves up a real taste of France. ? kate betts is the author of "My Paris Dream: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the Great City on the Seine."
Library Journal Review
Married at 19, 60-year-old Marianne Messman of Germany has had enough of her oppressive marriage. While on a trip to Paris with her heartless, controlling husband, Marianne jumps into the Seine to end it all. Furious when a bystander saves her, she flees the hospital with her clothes and her hospital tray placemat, a painted tile of Port de Kerdruc in Brittany. She takes it as a sign to head to Kerdruc to complete her mission. Instead of dying, she finds herself slowly, reluctantly being drawn into the lives of the eccentric, lovable citizens of Kerdruc-a hotelier, an artist, a fisherman, a young, love-struck chef-all of them sorting out their own hit-and-miss love lives while relying more and more on Marianne's nurturing gifts. Just when she recovers her will to live in this "end of the world" Breton community, her past life threatens to derail her nascent strength and confidence. VERDICT The author of The Little Paris Bookshop has done it again. The message of this beguiling, second-chance romance-a rich life is possible at any age-will charm readers with its ring of truth. [See Prepub Alert, 12/19/16.]- Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor, MI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.