Exclusive interview with author Nicolas Barreau and a review of his romantic mystery novel set in Paris
Rating: 3 stars
Review By Gabrielle Pantera
“I was strolling through the beautiful Parc de Bagatelle, part of the Bois de Boulogne, and discovered the grotte aux quatre vents, which is a really magic place,” says Paris Is Always a Good Idea author Nicolas Barreau. There the idea came into my head to center the new novel around a fantastic children’s story that should become the heart of the novel and the clue to its secret. On the other hand, a little post-card shop in St Germain inspired me for my heroine, who is the owner of a charming post-card shop and who is drawing wishing cards for her…clients, although her wishes ironically never seem to come true. Until an old children’s book author and a young Shakespeare professor stumble into her shop, and turn her life upside down.”
Barreau’s portraits of the neighborhoods, the boulangeries and cafes will make you nostalgic to go back to Paris, or to visit for the first time. The characters are well-defined and the plot keeps the story moving. It’s Paris at a pleasant pace, with romance and a little mystery. The only negative is the smoking. From reading this book you wouldn’t know that Paris doesn’t have as much smoking anymore. With so much smoking in the book, it will be jarring to health-conscious readers and inappropriate to recommend to younger readers.
Artist Rosalie Laurent owns Luna Luna, a little postcard shop in St. Germain where she makes and sells her handmade postcards. Business is down. People aren’t writing as much and don’t need many postcards. She could lose her shop. Every year on her birthday she makes her own wishing card, but none of her wishes has ever come true. Children’s book author Max Marchais visits the shop, and Rosalie’s wishes start coming true. Her publishing dreams come crashing to a stop when American professor Robert Sherman accuses her and Max of plagiarism. Can it be true?
“Before I started writing Paris is Always a Good Idea, I was in New York for a short vacation and discovered the great independent book store McNally, which I used as a location for one important scene in my book,” says Barreau. “And I fell in love with the statues of the Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in Central Park so I couldn’t resist to use them in my story as well.”
“As the novel is set in Paris, and I know this city very well, I didn’t have to do a lot of research,” says Barreau. “But, there were many surprising things during the process of writing the characters in my book. For instance, it was my plan to let the old grumpy author Max Marchais die in the end but he somehow convinced me not to do so.”
Barreau’s third novel, The Ingredients of Love, sold over one million copies in Germany and was bestseller of the year 2012 and translated into 34 languages. There has been a TV movie made of The Ingredients of Love and interest to make a French or Italian film of One evening in Paris. A stage version of The Ingredients of Love is playing in Vienna. Paris Is Always a Good Idea has yet to be optioned for TV or film.
“There is a strong film interest but the film business is a very slow one and one has to be very patient,” says Barreau. “It was a big and wonderful surprise of course when in Italy the novel hit the bestseller list right from the start. And in France, where the novel was published only two month ago, it was chosen as the coup de coeur recommendation at Tele France 2…described as the perfect read after a long and busy day, a beam of sunshine that reaches your heart”.
Barreau is currently researching his next novel, The Café of Little Wonders.
“Beside my novels I don’t write anything,” says Barreau. “Except for letters. I’m a big fan of handwritten letters and postcards.”
Paris is Always a Good Idea by Nicolas Barreau. Paperback: 304 pages, Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin; Reprint edition (March 29, 2016). Language: English, ISBN: 9781250072771 $15.99
