April 2012

Eloisa James took readers along on her family’s one-year sabbatical in PARIS IN LOVE instead of just sending out postcards. Throughout the year, she shared her experiences on Facebook, and in PARIS IN LOVE compiled those posts along with a series of essays to add additional insights to this experience. It’s a very modern-day memoir. She has a strong “voice” that makes even her briefest posts charming, and her skill as a writer makes the discordant pieces flow together to give the reader a breezy travelogue that makes you want to pack up and hit the road. She also has a gift of humor and can be marvelously self-deprecating.

Seeing Paris through the eyes of someone who has embraced the city not just as a tourist gives a glimmer of what it is like to live in a place, not just visit. And her family stories give the book a lot of heart. It’s armchair travel, but also a peek into the everyday life of a family that is on a journey together. Many of their experiences --- school projects, daily meals, and tensions between children and parents --- are not unique. But set amidst this backdrop, they become a lot more entertaining.

I found myself not just wanting to visit Paris, but also jotting notes on all the places I would like to go and live like this. And I did long for a baguette, some fine cheese, and some rich chocolate carried in a string bag as she shared her shopping trips. And I wistfully wished I could sit in a café for an hour and just watch the world go by. It’s a lovely written escape.