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The Little Paris Bookshop  By  cover art

The Little Paris Bookshop

By: Nina George
Narrated by: Steve West,Emma Bering,Cassandra Campbell
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Publisher's summary

"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 best-selling 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 best selling 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2015 Nina George (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

" The Little Paris Bookshop is an enchantment. Set in a floating barge along the Seine, this love letter to books - and to the complicated, sometimes broken people who are healed by them - is the next best thing to booking a trip to France." (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Catching Air)
"Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, Nina George's impressionistic prose takes the reader on a journey not just through the glories of France and the wonders of books, but through the encyclopedic panoply of human emotions. The Little Paris Bookshop is a book whose palette, textures, and aromas will draw you in and cradle you in the redemptive power of love." (Charlie Lovett, author of The Bookman's Tale)
"Nina George tells us clever things about love, about reading that 'puts a bounce in your step', about tango in Provence, and about truly good food.... One of those books that gets you thinking about whom you need to give it to as a gift even while you're still reading it, because it makes you happy and should be part of any well-stocked apothecary." ( Hamburger Morgenpost [Germany])

What listeners say about The Little Paris Bookshop

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Feels like a debut novel

I downloaded this because I was going to Paris and thought it would be fun to read while I was in France. I have to say that there are moments in the story and the writing that are lovely - well written and beautifully crafted but the majority of the story is forced and tacked on. I had expected something more by the title and it didn't deliver. Too bad.

The narration is awful - the attempts to sound French fall very flat.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Meh

It had its moments but the story and characters seem underdeveloped. Not a lot of depth to the story and I just didn't find the characters all that interesting.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

BOOOORING and CLICHE RIDDEN

What disappointed you about The Little Paris Bookshop?

I love literature and am not always looking for a fast pace book, but this book (with some exceptions) was simply boring. The author was trying to hard to be poignant when in fact the material was mostly all cliche and processed sentimentality of the Harlequin romance type.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

None of the charm that I was hoping for. Maybe it was lost in the translation from German. I thought the prose was silly and saccharin, the characters too quirky and self-absorbed.
For a TRUELY charming book about a bookstore, please read "The Storied Life of AJ Fikry".

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

In the spirit of Harold Fry

If you liked The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you will like this book. Personally, I prefer The Little Paris Bookshop as there were more characters and a more satisfying ending. Although lacking in the British charm of Harold Fry, there were whimsical aspects of this book that were quite special. I would recommend, although only 3 stars because not particularly my genre.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Do not waste your time.

I only made it to chapter 43. Spoiler alert! That's when the completely unlikable main character learns that the dead woman he's been pining over for 20 years had a daughter who might be his. By the time I got here, I wanted to stab myself in the ear to drown out the sound of his name. The word trite does not begin to cover all of the clichés in this book. The only thing interesting about the book is the idea of a floating bookstore on the canals of France owned by a bookseller who can match a person to the book she needs to read. Too bad this book doesn't need to be read by anyone.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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Overwrought emotions read in faux French accents

Book's plot is basically: man who had a 5 year affair with woman 20 years ago (!) Is still frozen in life with grief because she left him for her fiancé. Later he learns she died and goes on journey to her home in south of France to find his peace. Language is overwrought, full of banalities and cliches. Characters annoying in their self-absorption. Sex scenes risible (lots of "trembling") Narrators read in faux French accents that are annoying.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Magical & Glowing

This book has touched me in too many ways to list. There is so much life, richness of experience, love, loss, joy, tears & laughter contained in the pages of this beautiful book. There is something life changing that clings go you at the end. You somehow feel that at last you understand something that was once out of your reach. Beautifully narrated. I had planned to alternate reading & listening but the voices spike in the true voice of the book & I was unable to let go. I hope to go back & read it again & again-it is that special. If you may only read one book-choose this one!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful

Art is meant to make us feel at fundamental levels, to stir something within and to inspire. This treatise on love contains everything to be considered a masterpiece in its own right.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Little bookshop

It's a beautiful story of love and loss. The writer puts together beautiful phrases and thoughts. I really liked it and wanted to love it but didn't quite hit the mark.

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9 people found this helpful