This is one of those stories that if it happened to you, you would definitely have to write a book! At age 40, Samantha Vérant life was falling apart. She was jobless, in debt, and feeling stuck until she stumbled upon seven old love letters from Jean-Luc, the sexy Frenchman she’d met in Paris when…

This is Samantha’s follow-up to Seven Letters from Paris. Samantha moves to France to begin her life with her new husband, Jean-Luc, and his two kids. But almost from the moment, the plane touches down, Samantha realizes that there are a lot of things about her new home―including flea-ridden cats, grumpy teenagers, and language barriers―that…

This book underlined for me the undeniable pull that Paris has on women. As I often say Paris is not just a place to visit, it’s a feeling, a state of mind,  and for many women, it is a place that they often find themselves, or reconnect with themselves.  This is a collection of personal…

I have read and re-read this memoir because I could relate a little to the author’s back and forth life crisscrossing the Atlantic between Paris and her home (in New York). Like me, Lisa was trying to go to Paris as often as her bank account would allow, and for her, that was several times…

This is the true story of Louisa Deasey who receives a message from a French woman called Coralie, who has found a cachet of letters in an attic, written by Louisa’s father. Neither woman can imagine the events this will set in motion. The letters, dated 1949, detail a passionate affair between Louisa’s father, Denison,…

Absolutely one of my favourite memoirs about Paris! Stuck in a copy-editing job and stagnant routine that holds little adventure, Janice finds an industrious way to buy herself two years of freedom in Europe. A few days into her stop in Paris on Rue Mouffetard, she spies a handsome butcher — yes, a butcher —…

This is Janice MacLeod’s second book where she combines her excellent photography and artwork with stories about Paris that follow through the four seasons. It is truly a feast for the eyes and the soul. I particularly love her watercolour scenes depicting a place, a custom, a moment in Paris, reflected through Janice’s eyes. This…

“WE wear underwear. French women wear lingerie,” is how Paris-based Kate Kemp-Griffin began her conversation with me.  And I didn’t need much convincing taking into account the sorry state of my undies.  This is the starting point for this wonderful part-memoir, part-manual, that illustrates the fact that French women inherently seem more confident about their…

Deirdre Kelly has been a respected dance critic and fashion reporter writing for Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, and Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail. She writes eloquently about the eight visits that she has made to Paris starting out as a starry-eyed nanny or “au pair” when she was just nineteen. I was riveted…