Living and working in Paris is the wonderful Clio, slightly too tall, slighty overweight, with (quelle horreur) curly hair, trying to do the best for her son after two failed marriages, trying (and failing) to please her fastidious French boyfriend, Philippe, with his impossible mother who is waiting for him to get back with the ex (who is, of course, beautiful, classy, French and still married to him).
Luckily, Philippe has the most wonderful Aunt - Isabelle - who adores Clio and actually treats her as one of the family (probably due to Aunt Isabelle's relationship with Philippe's mother being frosty to say the least).
Philippe is insistant that Clio pull her weight when it comes to the housekeeping so she works part-time as a tour guide (with a dreadful boss nicknamed Miss Piggy) and also writes rather whimsical travel articles and restaurant reviews for a "one-horse magazine published in America". Philippe also takes it upon himself to recommend she go to Weightwatchers (this is the point when I would have dumped him) and never fails to make critical remarks about the way Clio looks. (His reassurances that he will speak to his ex about a divorce never reassure me either. He's a slime-ball of the first degree.)
As you would hope, Clio finds a wonderful, charming, sensitive man in the form of Canadian Joe, but confusion and misunderstandings ensue, leaving you wondering if anything is ever going to go right for her.
The ending is warm, wonderful and actually perfectly balanced with the rest of the book. And I don't often get to say that!
Beautifully written, with a cast of well-crafted characters, Susie Vereker does it again!