2017 Book Review #21: The Little French Bistro

This was a new-to-me author and this story just drew me right in.  It is a lovely story set in France.

STORY SUMMARY

Marianne is a German woman, married to a German man named Lothar Messamann.  The marriage is loveless, joyless and she is completely controlled by him. They have no children.  After 41 years of being his wife, she has had enough and one evening, while they are visiting Paris, she decides to take some action...her plan is to kill herself by jumping into the Seine.

Someone rescues her and soon her life is changed. 

Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the western coast of France in Brittany.....she ends up in Kedruc which is known as "the end of the world" and is in the most northwestern part of France.  She discovers a tile with a painted scene that seems to lead her to this little village.

She accepts a job at Ar Mor (the sea) restaurant, working alongside the restaurant owner Genevieve; the heartbroken chef named Jean-Remy, Yann, the handsome painter with whom she falls in love with and he with her, and many other colorful French characters.

Marianne soon learns she has a real self....an inner being who is passionate and talented....carefree and powerful and able to manage on her own.   She has forgotten all about her real self and learns that it is time to embrace it.

She settles into life with her new friends, embracing life, love, and adventure.

Until her past catches up with her.

Will Marianne return to all that she knows or will she embrace the future??

MY THOUGHTS

This book really opened up my eyes to my own marriage and some of the struggles we've faced in recent years with changing interests and less time for each other.

The characters are deep and rich.  There is so much personality in each character (and there are many) that you feel like you know these people or that you want to know them.  That always draws me in.

And the setting of course is a place that has been on my bucket list for years and to where I hope to visit one day.  The description is heavenly.

I love the theme of "second chances" and this theme isn't just evident in Marianne's character but in most of them!

There is laughter, sadness, trials, triumphs, romance, mystery, action, thought-provoking statements, a mythic quality, loss, and death, along with new life.

One of my favorite quotes from the story is as follows:

"Happiness is loving what we need, and needing what we love------and obtaining it." (pg. 307, The Little French Bistro by Nina George c.2017)

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.