Tuesday, July 7, 2015

"The Little Paris Bookshop"

Nina George works as a journalist, writer, and storytelling teacher. She is the award winning author of 26 books, and also writes feature articles, short stories, and columns. Her novel The Little Paris Bookshop spent over a year on bestseller lists in Germany, and was a bestseller in Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands.

George applied the Page 69 Test to The Little Paris Bookshop and reported the following:
From page 69:
He saw her before him in the hours and hours of the weeks following the letter, waiting for a car to pull up outside her house and for Jean to knock on her door.

Summer passed, autumn painted frost on the fallen leaves, winter swept the trees bare. Still he hadn’t come.

He slapped his hands to his face, but would rather have slapped himself in the face.

And now it’s too late.

Fingers shaking uncontrollably, Monsieur Perdu folded up the fragile letter, which miraculously preserved her scent, and pushed it back into the envelope. Then he buttoned up his shirt with grim concentration and groped for his shoes. He tidied his hair in the mirror formed by the darkened windowpane.

Jump out, you vile idiot. That would solve things.

When he looked up, he saw Catherine leaning against the door frame.

“I was her . . . ,” he began, indicating the letter. “She was my . . .” He couldn’t find the words. “But things turned out completely differently.”

What was the word for it?

“Love?” asked Catherine after a while.
Touché. Page 69 describes the bracket of this book, the inner, hidden truth of the story; it is the break down of the psyche of my main figure Monsieur Perdu.

It is a sort of representative. But the important flavouring ingredients are missing: the humour, the books, the cats and the French air on the other 340 or so-pages.

Each book has its own rhythm, an inner melody. Mine is a Tango (Por Una Cabeza), with tears, passion, laughter, melancholy, jokes and sensual acts. On page 69 you will find the key to the book.
Visit Nina George's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Little Paris Bookshop.

--Marshal Zeringue