The Litle Paris Bookshop - Book Review

The little Paris bookshop by Nina George.

New 2015 release.

Nina George is a writer, a journalist and a story-telling teacher.  Her writing has included 26 books while as a journalist she writes features, column and short stories.  She lives in Hamburg and Brittany, France.  Her website is www.nina-george.com

The Little Paris bookshop story:

A bookshop in a restored barge on the River Seine with a gifted bookseller that runs his shop as an apothecary. He divines what book you need to fill a gap in your life and sells it to his customer.

There is a book for every ailment and heartbreak except for the one that he feels himself.

A long ago lover, un-mourned and sadly missed haunts his life.

He escapes from Paris to go cruising along various French rivers and canals, stopping to sell books on his way to find a cure for his heartbreak. At Sanary-sur-Mer he stops for his life to catch up with him.

He takes along a writer with writer's block, 2 cats and sundry other passengers who come and sometimes go.

Interspersed with excerpts from his lovers diary detailing her deepest feelings. "I shall go into my last room and from there into the garden. Yes, that is how it will be. I shall stride through tall, inviting French windows and straight into the sunset."

With lots of interesting characters, beautiful scenic descriptions and my heart rending soul searching.

This book is sensitively translated by Simon Pare:  a delightful, bittersweet tale about the distance one man will travel for love and friendship. 

The little Paris bookshop is available from Rainy Day Books in the Basin, at the roundabout, cnr Mountain Highway and Forest Road, The Basin.  Telephone number:   www.rainydaybooksofthebasin.blogspot.com

BOOK REVIEW - FORTY DAYS WITHOUT SHADOW

Olivier Truc – Forty days without shadow

A debut novel by this young French writer now translated into English.  A journalist based in Stockholm who produced a TV documentary called The Reindeer police and it is Reindeer Police officers that feature in this new novel.

Set in the frozen north of Lapland amongst the taciturn, isolated, hermit like reindeer herders of the Sami people.

A gruesome murder and a stolen priceless Sami drum seem to be unconnected crimes until Detective Klemet Nango and his new recruit assistant Nina Nansen start investigating.

The icy landscapes and lonely nomadic lifestyle of the Sami herders is so well described that you feel yourself reaching for a fur rug to snuggle into and feel some comfort.

The modern advances in technology and transport are starting to appear but many of the old school herders stick to the old ways and herd with skis and little or no communication.

There is a dream like quality to the vast wasteland descriptions and the gripping crime details are sharply in contrast.

The modern police officers and the age old traditional peoples are both struggling to keep the old culture alive.

Sub plots include a UN conference on indigenous peoples and shady gold mining deals but it is the Sami peoples and Lapland itself that star in this novel.

Wolf Strait is to be the next instalment of Detectives Nango and Nansen.

 *"Forty Days without Shadow" is now available in the shop.

Meryll Williams

Rainy Day Books

1301 Mountain Hwy, The Basin

Catch me on my blog www.rainydaybooksofthebasin.blogspot.com