French Lessons [Kindle Edition]

Three Americans are taking French language tuition from a language school in the city of romance, Paris, and the novel focuses on the events that happen during the course of the same one day as each of them strolls around the city speaking French with their own individual French tutor. In the short opening section of the book, we are briefly introduced to the tutors, Nico, Philippe and Chantal, and we discover a little about the history between the three of them. Then the novel consists of three separate short stories told as the day in Paris unwinds, first for Nico and his new student Josie who has suffered a loss and is on a trip alone that was meant to be for two, then Philippe and Riley, the wife and mother who is in Paris due to her husbands' job, and finally Chantal and Jeremy, who has spent the week with her whilst his film-star wife shoots a movie, and this is his last day of tuition. The novel concludes with a final short section about the tutors as they meet again at the end of the day.

More character driven than plot driven, the three students of French all have their flaws and they all have different relationship issues, doubts, or problems, and it's interesting to dip into each of their lives briefly and discover these conflicts. The novel explores different aspects of love, passion and sex, (at one point explicitly), and conveys the confusion and feeling of being lost and looking for direction in life and love.

The ultimate outcome of this day in Paris for all of them seems to be a new clarity and understanding of their situations, gained through the discussions and time spent with these strangers, their tutors. In fact this finding a moment of clarity and decisiveness is true for at least one of the tutors too.

This is a relatively quick read, it's fun and a bit of an escape, it tells of love, passion and desire, and it's enjoyable to hear some famous Parisian sights name-dropped as the pairs move around the city. My favourite story was the first one, about Josie and Nico. I would be interested to see what the author does next.

From the first page of French Lessons, I was completely hooked! The way the author writes is really lyrical and you can tell that she knows Paris very well. What you get from this novel is a fascinating insight into the lives of six very different characters, as you learn about the romantic threads that they each weave. I really connected with the characters, especially Josie's poignant story - I won't say how it ends, I'd hate to give anything away. After I finished reading, it just made me want to jump on the Eurostar and head over to Paris. I haven't read a book like this for ages, I just didn't want it to end!

A charming and enjoyable read. Well written characters that draw you in to their world. On the surface some of the characters are not morally likeable but the book is so readable that you cannot pass judgement. It is like walking in someone else's shoes to understand their choices.