FICTION

The Little French Bistro

Crown. Jun. 2017. 336p. tr. from German by Simon Pare. ISBN 9780451495587. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780451495600. F
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OrangeReviewStarMarried 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.]
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