I don’t remember how I found this book, but it’s totally not my style. Nobody gets murdered. I was going to say there aren’t even any missing persons or mysteries to solve, but that’s totally not true. I guess it had the undertones of “my style” of book and I didn’t even realize it. We start out with Sophie mourning the loss of her father, who just recently passed away. She’s helping her aunts clean out the house, and she finds some old letters hidden in her dad’s stuff. They’re from her mom, which doesn’t sound like a mystery, but they’re dated after her mom supposedly died. Sophie’s world is turned upside down as she rethinks her entire childhood. She finds out her mom left Sophie and her dad to go pursue her dreams to be an artist in Paris.
Sophie can’t move on with her life and get married (in like a week!) to a boy she only met once without figuring out what happened to her mom and maybe finding her and reuniting in Paris. She jets off with some money and a vague idea of where to start looking. Having never left her small village in India, she’s a fish out of water in Paris. She doesn’t speak any French, only her native tongue and English. She meets a bunch of people along her journey who help or hinder her progress. She learns way more about her mom’s life than she ever imagined. Her betrothed actually flies to Paris to check on her, and she realizes he’s someone she might actually like. There’s so much heartache in this book, but also tons of joy. It tackles the complicated relationship of a mother to her child along with romantic relationships good and bad. Sophie learns more about life in a week than she did her entire life prior. I totally recommend this book. Be prepared to feel things though!
