Book Review - The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles

My Review

In 1995, Lily Jacobsen is living in Paris.   She was inspired to leave her Froid, Minnesota home by her neighbor Odile, who told Lily inspiring stories about her life at the American Library in Paris (ALP) during World War II.  Lily wants to be a writer.  Her best friend, who has traveled with her, wants to be an artist.  They find Paris to be enchanting ... but different than expected in terms of their dreams.  Lily chances upon a part-time job as Programs Manager at ALP, the same library that Odile once worked at.  She finds a mysterious manuscript in the archives that relates to Odile's life long ago in Paris.  As Lily finds a community at the library, she continues to work on her writing.  She finds love.  She feels she has lost her best friend ... and works to patch up that relationship, and perhaps (through time and distance) also patch up Odile's broken friendship from the 1940's.

I wanted to read this book because I absolutely loved the author's book The Paris Library, about Odile's life at the ALP during World War II.  It was one of my favorite books the year I read it.  

The Parisian Chapter has so many things I love:

• Paris setting
• Library lore!
• Perfect evocation of another time and place
• People-centric storytelling (friends and love)
• Found family
• A mysterious throwback to years ago

The storytelling is lovely!  I really cared about Lily, her friend Mary Louise, Odile, and her lost friend Margaret.  And Paris!  And of course the library itself, with passages like:

"Continuing past the nonfiction stacks, I searched for my favorite numbers— 001.9 (the unexplained, like UFOs or Bigfoot) and 808 (writing and getting published). The greeter boasted about the library’s treasures: a pair of Hemingway’s tortoiseshell spectacles; a letter from Henry Miller; and books that had once belonged to the Left Bank bookseller Sylvia Beach (the patron saint of impoverished writers) as well as Marlene Dietrich, who scrawled opinions in the margins (“ This is without a doubt the worst writing I have ever laid eyes on.”)." (eBook location 312)

I enthusiastically recommend this lovely book to other readers who love historical fiction, Paris, libraries, and life affirming stories of friendship and found dreams.  Five stars from me!

Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for an advanced reading copy of this book.  The ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.