The Light of Paris (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
Eleanor Brown’s latest novel is nothing like The Weird Sisters, but it is every bit as wonderful. Madelaine lives an unhappy life in 1999 Chicago, and her grandmother Margie lives out her dreams in 1920’s Paris. The story moves back and forth between the two characters who are connected by their temperaments and hopes for their lives, as well as by blood. Madelaine is married to Phillip, a rich and controlling man who tells her how to dress, what to eat, and how to behave. Margie is a spinster who is sent to Paris to chaperone a younger cousin with better prospects. When the cousin runs off with a man, Margie decides to stay in Paris and pursue her wish of becoming a writer. Madelaine gets to know her grandmother through her journals, and is inspired to change her own narrow existence for the life that she wants.
— Sharon K. Nagel
Inspired by reading her grandmother's 1920s Paris journals of awakening to the light of seeking her artistic passion as a Jazz Age writer, trophy wife Madeleine leaves a loveless marriage to embrace her long suppressed desire to fulfill her life's purpose of becoming the artist she has long dreamed of being. This is a beautifully written story of a woman's courageous journey into self-discovery by a talented writer who vividly portrays characters and settings that will fully engage readers. I loved Madeleine's spirit!
— Jane Glaser
Description
“I adored The Light of Paris. It’s so lovely and big-hearted—it made me long for Paris.”—Jojo Moyes, New York Times-bestselling author of Me Before You and After You
The miraculous novel from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Weird Sisters—a sensation beloved by critics and readers alike.
Madeleine is trapped—by her family's expectations, by her controlling husband, and by her own fears—in an unhappy marriage and a life she never wanted. From the outside, it looks like she has everything, but on the inside, she fears she has nothing that matters.
In Madeleine’s memories, her grandmother Margie is the kind of woman she should have been—elegant, reserved, perfect. But when Madeleine finds a diary detailing Margie’s bold, romantic trip to Jazz Age Paris, she meets the grandmother she never knew: a dreamer who defied her strict, staid family and spent an exhilarating summer writing in cafés, living on her own, and falling for a charismatic artist.
Despite her unhappiness, when Madeleine’s marriage is threatened, she panics, escaping to her hometown and staying with her critical, disapproving mother. In that unlikely place, shaken by the revelation of a long-hidden family secret and inspired by her grandmother’s bravery, Madeleine creates her own Parisian summer—reconnecting to her love of painting, cultivating a vibrant circle of creative friends, and finding a kindred spirit in a down-to-earth chef who reminds her to feed both her body and her heart.
Margie and Madeleine’s stories intertwine to explore the joys and risks of living life on our own terms, of defying the rules that hold us back from our dreams, and of becoming the people we are meant to be.
About the Author
Eleanor Brown is the author of The Weird Sisters. Her writing has been published in anthologies, magazines, and journals. She holds an M.A. in Literature and has worked in education in South Florida. She lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
Praise For…
“A trip to Paris may be the quickest way for a heroine to change her life…Warmhearted.”—The Washington Post
“Fresh, endearing…finely written and absorbing, and explores the always compelling questions of how to balance reality and romance, duty and dreams, family and freedom.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A story about love, marriage, divorce, self-discovery and how things often turn out far from what you had planned.”—Fort Worth Star Telegram
“The follow-up to Brown’s delightful dysfunctional-family comedy The Weird Sisters will cure your stay-at-home blues.”—Miami Herald
“Brown’s novel tackles an age-old question about what life would be like if we took more chances….Makes readers sit up and take notice.”—RT Book Reviews
“Brown conveys the importance of the arts in creating a life as well the need to heed all voices, even those from the past, in looking to the future.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A charming novel about living life on your own terms that will make you long for the streets of Paris.”—Popsugar.com
“I adored The Light of Paris. It’s so lovely and big-hearted—it made me long for Paris.”—Jojo Moyes, New York Times-bestselling author of Me Before You and After You
“Eleanor Brown is high priestess of that rich place where soulfulness and emotional insight meet laugh-out-loud humor. In her wry and affecting follow-up to The Weird Sisters, we meet Margie and Madeleine—two women separated by decades and continents, but on same essential journey toward self-exploration and self-knowledge. Somehow each must learn to thrust off others’ expectations and their own well-worn fears to reclaim themselves and discover the lives they were always meant for. A deeply rewarding read, The Light of Paris will keep you thinking—and smiling—long after the last page is turned.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun
“Paris is always a good idea. It's not just a line from an old movie, it's a credo, and the underlying idea of Eleanor Brown's wise and charming new novel, The Light of Paris. Protagonist Madeleine Spencer is repressed, depressed and downright oppressed in her marriage to a chilly Chicago businessman. When she flees both to her Southern hometown her critical mother is less than welcoming. It's only when Madeleine opens a dusty trunk in the attic of the family home and finds her grandmother Margie's forgotten Parisian diary that Madeleine begins to find her way home--both emotionally and physically. The Light of Paris is a warm and illuminating novel of great hope and heart.”—Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times-bestselling author of Beach Town and Ladies’ Night
