“A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”
As readers, we know that books can be like medicine. Depending on our mood, it can lift us up or make us cry. Books are always there for us whenever we need them.
In The Little Paris Bookshop, which has been translated into 27 languages, the German author Nina George lets books heal our souls and takes us on a trip for the search of lost love and the exploration of relationships.
Jean Perdu owns a floating bookstore in Paris. He calls his bookshop “pharmacie littéraire” or the literary pharmacy and prescribes books to his customers which will help them with their current state of mind. He strongly believes that not every book is for every reader and therefore would not do them any good. A book must fit to its reader like a good pair of jeans and I love this idea and agree 100 percent.
“I wanted to treat feelings that are not recognised as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors. All those little feelings and emotions no therapist is interested in, because they are apparently too minor and intangible.”
It seems that he can help everyone through literature except for himself. For more than 20 years, he lives with a broken heart and has not found a way to fix it. When his one true love, Manon, left him, the only thing that she left behind was a letter for him to read. Afraid to find out which words she left for him; he has put the letter away for years.
When he is finally brave enough to face his past, he uproots his bookshop and travels to the south of France, accompanied by two of his friends, to find peace and end his suffering.
“The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end. Or when you recognise that you haven’t got your whole life left to find out where you belong. Or the slight sense of grief when a friendship doesn’t develop as you thought, and you have to continue your search for a lifelong companion. Or those birthday morning blues. Nostalgia for the air of your childhood. Things like that.”
This lovely book is the perfect read for a rainy summer afternoon as it will transport you to the lovely France flower fields and their small cottages with their vineyards. George has created a reliable main character with Perdu, a man who was too afraid to get to know the truth that he must face the ugly reality that 20 years later and it is too late to make up for everything.
His longing for Manon stopped him from fixing his broken heart or finding a new love with another woman. Following his journey, you will find yourself rooting for his happiness, while asking yourself why he could not have opened the letter sooner. It hurts to see what Perdu lost because of it, but it will warm your heart when you see what he gains.
At the beginning, I was not able to see in which direction the story would evolve. It is not about the bookshop, it is about life, love, and souls. Perdu finds out what has happened with Manon and how her live has been. He meets Luc and discovers that she really loved him. In the end, Perdu is able to love again and fill his heart with new love.
The biggest lesson you can take from this story is to never wait to seek answers, because you never know what could happen later or if it is not too late. On the other hand, it shows that you can find love and happiness at every age and that you are the master of your own live and form your future the way you want it, if you only are brave enough take the first step.
With a cup of tea in one hand and the book in the other, you will quick get cosy and have the smell of French lavender surrounding you.
The Little Paris Bookshop is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore!
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Synopsis | Goodreads
“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”
Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can’t seem to heal through literature is himself; he’s still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.
After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.
Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people’s lives.
