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From acclaimed author Susan Conley comes a novel that gives us a luminous emotional portrait of a young woman living abroad in Paris in the 1980s and trying to make sense of the chaotic world around her as she learns the true meaning of family.
When Willie Pears agrees to teach at a Parisian center for immigrant girls who have requested French asylum, she has no idea it will utterly change her life. She has lived in Paris for six months, surrounded by the most important people in her life: her beloved brother, Luke; her funny and wise college roommate, Sara; and Sara's do-gooder husband, Rajiv. And now there is Macon Ventri, a passionate, dedicated attorney for the detained girls. Theirs is a meeting of both hearts and minds-but not without its problems. As Willie becomes more involved with the immigrant girls who touch her soul, the lines between teaching and mothering are blurred. She is especially drawn to Gita, a young Indian girl who is determined to be free. Ultimately, Willie will make a decision with potentially dire consequences to both her relationship with Macon and the future of the center. Meanwhile, Luke is taken with a serious, as-yet-unnamed illness, and Willie will come to understand the power of unconditional love while facing the dark days of his death.
Conley has written a piercing, deeply humane novel that explores the connections between family and friends and reaffirms the strength of the ties that bind.
"Paris Was the Place has the kind of
emotional weight you hope for in a novel. Its world, by turns achingly
beautiful and brutally unjust, is as vividly rendered as its characters, whose
joys and struggles we embrace as our own."
"Susan Conley's deft, moving novel is a beautiful love song, as much to
Paris as to that tipping point in life when love and loss combine and
perhaps, for the first time, both heartbroken and thrilled, you feel
acutely what it means to be fully human and alive."
"Conley's debut novel is a satisfying cassoulet of questions about home, comfort, and love, served with fresh perspective on a dazzling city."
"We travel through rich settings (India, France, the Sonoran desert) and are confronted with dramatic events."
"Conley writes
beautifully, compellingly, [and] with a directness and clarity that is moving
without being maudlin…[She] also evokes a vivid sense of Paris…Captivating
descriptions highlight the hallmarks and quirks of the various arrondissements
and neighborhoods with a 'you are here' immediacy."
"Tenderhearted, earnest, and sincere…The heart of the book is the interlocking love stories, between Willie and the almost-to-good-to-be-true Macon, as well as between sister and brother, daughter and mother, and Willie and her asylum-seeking student."
"With its Parisian setting (the author spares no details), Conley's simple family story about a woman discovering her own strength will primarily appeal to fans of women's fiction and Paris lovers alike."
"Deftly exploring the complexities of friendship, family, and
commitment, Conley adroitly demonstrates her infectious passion for Paris
through an extensive and intimate portrait of the inner workings concealed
behind its seductive façade."
"In an affecting debut, Willow Pears learns not only to love, but also what matters when dealing with loss and problems that have no solution…The sympathetic storytelling and limpid first-person narration succeed in casting a spell."
"Paris Was the Place is a gorgeous love
story and a wise, intimate journal of dislocation that examines how far we'll
go for the people we love most. I couldn't put it down."
"Paris Was the Place, with its portrait
of Paris in the '80s and a narrator whose beloved brother is undone by AIDS,
renders viscerally just how the personal becomes the political, and vice-versa:
it's beautifully eloquent on the shortfall we so keenly f
When Willie Pears agrees to teach at a Parisian center for immigrant girls who have requested French asylum, she has no idea it will utterly change her life. She has lived in Paris for six months, surrounded by the most important people in her life: her beloved brother, Luke; her funny and wise college roommate, Sara; and Sara's do-gooder husband, Rajiv. And now there is Macon Ventri, a passionate, dedicated attorney for the detained girls. Theirs is a meeting of both hearts and minds-but not without its problems. As Willie becomes more involved with the immigrant girls who touch her soul, the lines between teaching and mothering are blurred. She is especially drawn to Gita, a young Indian girl who is determined to be free. Ultimately, Willie will make a decision with potentially dire consequences to both her relationship with Macon and the future of the center. Meanwhile, Luke is taken with a serious, as-yet-unnamed illness, and Willie will come to understand the power of unconditional love while facing the dark days of his death.
Conley has written a piercing, deeply humane novel that explores the connections between family and friends and reaffirms the strength of the ties that bind.
"Paris Was the Place has the kind of
emotional weight you hope for in a novel. Its world, by turns achingly
beautiful and brutally unjust, is as vividly rendered as its characters, whose
joys and struggles we embrace as our own."
"Susan Conley's deft, moving novel is a beautiful love song, as much to
Paris as to that tipping point in life when love and loss combine and
perhaps, for the first time, both heartbroken and thrilled, you feel
acutely what it means to be fully human and alive."
"Conley's debut novel is a satisfying cassoulet of questions about home, comfort, and love, served with fresh perspective on a dazzling city."
"We travel through rich settings (India, France, the Sonoran desert) and are confronted with dramatic events."
"Conley writes
beautifully, compellingly, [and] with a directness and clarity that is moving
without being maudlin…[She] also evokes a vivid sense of Paris…Captivating
descriptions highlight the hallmarks and quirks of the various arrondissements
and neighborhoods with a 'you are here' immediacy."
"Tenderhearted, earnest, and sincere…The heart of the book is the interlocking love stories, between Willie and the almost-to-good-to-be-true Macon, as well as between sister and brother, daughter and mother, and Willie and her asylum-seeking student."
"With its Parisian setting (the author spares no details), Conley's simple family story about a woman discovering her own strength will primarily appeal to fans of women's fiction and Paris lovers alike."
"Deftly exploring the complexities of friendship, family, and
commitment, Conley adroitly demonstrates her infectious passion for Paris
through an extensive and intimate portrait of the inner workings concealed
behind its seductive façade."
"In an affecting debut, Willow Pears learns not only to love, but also what matters when dealing with loss and problems that have no solution…The sympathetic storytelling and limpid first-person narration succeed in casting a spell."
"Paris Was the Place is a gorgeous love
story and a wise, intimate journal of dislocation that examines how far we'll
go for the people we love most. I couldn't put it down."
"Paris Was the Place, with its portrait
of Paris in the '80s and a narrator whose beloved brother is undone by AIDS,
renders viscerally just how the personal becomes the political, and vice-versa:
it's beautifully eloquent on the shortfall we so keenly f