Paris in July does not just include books. Contributions on your Paris vacation, your favourite meal or restaurant, French movies, music, art, Parisian history and more are very welcome. On the home page for the event you will inevitably discover perhaps new to you authors, movies as well as recipes to send you if you are lucky to Paris or at least the kitchen.
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain - 2015. Translated from the French by Emily Boyce and Jane Aitkin - 242 Pages - A Paris in July 2024 Novel
The Red Notebook is my introduction to Antoine Laurain. I admit I never heard of him until I saw another of his novels as one of the gift books on the Paris in July 2024 homepage. I loved this book. It really made me feel I was in Paris.
The Red Notebook opens with a terrible scene of the mugging of a woman, Lauren
The Red Notebook is about Laurent, a bookseller you can’t help but like as you learn things about him, and Lauren, a woman whose mystery you’d want to know about as much as does Laurent, but she sadly is in a coma. On the way to the bookstore one morning, Laurent sees a beautiful bag thrown aside. After a bit of tinkering around with the bag, he thinks it was probably stolen and takes it to the police, but when the police do not help much, he decides to hand the bag to its owner.
However, in Paris, a city where millions of people live, of course, he cannot predict how he will find the owner of this bag, which has no identity. As we glance over the contents of the bag and especially read the contents of the red notebook, one cannot help but think that the bag’s owner is a fine person.
This is the magic of The Red Notebook. The beautiful mystery combined with the charm of Paris and the beautiful world Laurain creates.
The Red Notebook is a full of fascinating literary references, Patrick Modiano even appears as a character, there is a suitably charming cat named Putin, lots of interesting secondary characters, time in the bookstore. The ending is emotionally gratifying.
"Antoine Laurain is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, director and collector of antique keys. A truly born and bred Parisian, after studying film, he began his career directing short films and writing screenplays. His passion for art led him to take a job assisting an antiques dealer in Paris. The experience provided the inspiration for his first novel, The Portrait, winner of the Prix Drouot.
Antoine’s novels have been translated into over twenty languages, including Arabic and Korean. Sales of his books across all formats in English have surpassed 180,000 copies, and The Red Notebook (2015) has become one of Gallic Books’ bestsellers both in the UK and the USA, and has been selected for HRH the Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room.
Also published: French Rhapsody (2016), The Portrait (2017), Smoking Kills (2018) and Vintage 1954 (2019)." from Gallic Books
I have already begun his latest novel An Astronomer in Love and hope to post upon it this month
Mel Ulm
The Reading Life
5 comments:
I have become a big fan of Antione Laurain over the last 12 months, thanks to Paris in July.
Marg. I for sure want to read more of his work
So glad Paris in July made you discover this author. Your book is the 4th presented by this author this year, a record! And yes, his latest is available as a giveaway
I read The President's Hat by him and is a fan after that book. This sounds great too. Something to look forward to.
I started to read this, ages ago from the library, but then it was pulled back for another person to borrow, and I never got back to it. Sounds so good, though!
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