Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
G.P. Putnam's Sons (2016), Edition: 1, 320 pages
Description
"The miraculous new novel from New York Times-bestselling author Eleanor Brown, whose debut, The Weird Sisters, was a sensation beloved by critics and readers alike. Madeleine is trapped--by her family's expectations, by her controlling husband, and by her own fears--in an unhappy marriage and a life she never wanted. From the outside, it looks like she has everything, but on the inside, she fears she has nothing that matters. In Madeleine's memories, her grandmother Margie is the kind of woman she should have been--elegant, reserved, perfect. But when Madeleine finds a diary detailing Margie's bold, romantic trip to Jazz Age Paris, she meets the grandmother she never knew: a dreamer who defied her strict, staid family and spent an exhilarating summer writing in cafes, living on her own, and falling for a charismatic artist. Despite her unhappiness, when Madeleine's marriage is threatened, she panics, escaping to her hometown and staying with her critical, disapproving mother. In that unlikely place, shaken by the revelation of a long-hidden family secret and inspired by her grandmother's bravery, Madeleine creates her own Parisian summer--reconnecting to her love of painting, cultivating a vibrant circle of creative friends, and finding a kindred spirit in a down-to-earth chef who reminds her to feed both her body and her heart. Margie and Madeleine's stories intertwine to explore the joys and risks of living life on our own terms, of defying the rules that hold us back from our dreams, and of becoming the people we are meant to be"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member susan0316
The Light in Paris was the first book that I've read by Eleanor Brown. I enjoyed it so much that I just ordered her first book (The weird Sisters) from Amazon.
This novel is told from two viewpoints in alternating chapters - Madeleine in 1999 and her grandmother Margie in 1919. Both women had so
The author did a fantastic job with the two main characters. They are both very complex but sympathetic and have a lot in common despite the years that separate them.
One of my favorite parts of the novel were the descriptions of Paris during Margie's time there. I love Paris and I love reading books about that wonderful city. The author didn't disappoint me at all with the Paris that she wrote about.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.
This novel is told from two viewpoints in alternating chapters - Madeleine in 1999 and her grandmother Margie in 1919. Both women had so
Show More
much in common because they were both being forced by their parents and society to conform to the norms of their times and to become someone different than wanted to be. Madeleine is trapped in a loveless marriage and has had to give up her dreams of being an artist because her husband and mother thought that it was a ridiculous waste of time. Margie had given up her dreams to be a writer and was being forced into marriage because her parents didn't want her to be a spinster. When Madeleine goes to visit her mother, she finds Margie's journals about the three months that she spent in Paris pursuing her dreams. Will reading Margie's journals give Madeleine the courage to make changes in her life?The author did a fantastic job with the two main characters. They are both very complex but sympathetic and have a lot in common despite the years that separate them.
One of my favorite parts of the novel were the descriptions of Paris during Margie's time there. I love Paris and I love reading books about that wonderful city. The author didn't disappoint me at all with the Paris that she wrote about.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BookDivasReads
Madeleine Bowers Spencer isn't happy with her life or marriage. She's unsure of what she wants in life, but she knows it isn't this. The only thing she can think of is to return to her familial home and reassess life in The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown.
Madeleine has always felt that she was a
The Light of Paris was a delightfully endearing and fast-paced read. The story is told in alternating voices of Madeleine in 1999 and Margie in 1924. I enjoyed the parallel stories of two women that tried their best to be something they weren't just to please their families. Both Margie and Madeleine had dreams of who they wanted to be and both seemed to let those dreams die, Margie due to societal restrictions and Madeleine due to perceived restrictions. The Light of Paris is a story about self-discovery and awakening as much as it is about family, life, and love. If you enjoy reading stories about life, hope, and second chances, then you'll definitely want to read The Light of Paris.
Madeleine has always felt that she was a
Show More
disappointment to her mother. She didn't want to be a society lady. She wanted to be an artist. Painting was an acceptable hobby but not a career goal according to her parents. So she put away her paints and tried her best to fit in. She even married an acceptable man just to make her mother happy. It is only after returning home while taking a "break" from her marriage that Madeleine discovers that she may not be anything like her mother, but she has a lot in common with her maternal grandmother, Margie. Reading through her grandmother's journals, Madeleine finds that her grandmother often felt as if she didn't fit in with polite society either, but all that changes when she gets to spend a wonderful summer in Paris. Margie gradually breaks out of her shell and lives the life she always wanted, even if it was only for summer. Can Madeleine truly follow in her grandmother's footsteps and do the same?The Light of Paris was a delightfully endearing and fast-paced read. The story is told in alternating voices of Madeleine in 1999 and Margie in 1924. I enjoyed the parallel stories of two women that tried their best to be something they weren't just to please their families. Both Margie and Madeleine had dreams of who they wanted to be and both seemed to let those dreams die, Margie due to societal restrictions and Madeleine due to perceived restrictions. The Light of Paris is a story about self-discovery and awakening as much as it is about family, life, and love. If you enjoy reading stories about life, hope, and second chances, then you'll definitely want to read The Light of Paris.
Show Less
LibraryThing member shazjhb
Some good parts. Liked the different people in different time. At least it had a good ending.
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
Long-time readers know I struggle with women’s fiction. This is through no fault of the authors. I just have issues with the stories in general. Knowing how everyone raved about Ms. Brown’s first novel, I had high hopes for The Light of Paris. Unfortunately for me, it contains everything I do
This is not to say I did not enjoy the novel. There are parts of it that are enjoyable. The descriptions are Paris are entrancing; Ms. Brown makes even the most mundane experiences sound like an adventure. Watching Margie grow her wings and experience life for the first time is a true pleasure. Margie has a joie de vivre while there that only adds to the city’s charm. Oh to have been alive and young and in Paris during the 1920s!
The vibrancy of the Paris scenes contrast so severely from the modern scenes and the joy and sense of freedom you experience while reading about Paris disappear once the narration switches back to Madeleine. There is something about Madeleine’s constant inner monologue of excuses and justifications that quickly grows old, as does the nonstop questioning of her purpose in life. She is so defeatist; at one point in time, her mother accuses her of standing in her own way of happiness. The truth of this statement never really dawns on Madeleine. She interprets it as her mother means it – that she never gave her current life a chance. However, the opposite is true. She let others steamroll her into a box of a life that fit her no better than the proverbial square peg in a round hole and was conscious of it happening to her the entire time.
Therein lies my greatest problem with The Light of Paris and novels like it. I like my heroines to have a little more backbone and fight in them. Margie has some when she makes the decision to stay in Paris against her parents’ wishes but quickly loses that backbone when life takes an ill turn. Madeleine only gets a backbone upon reading her grandmother’s notebooks. One is left to wonder if she would have done anything different in her life had she never discovered them.
I know this is an unfair assessment. I do not like the happily ever after endings in such novels, but neither do I like characters – especially female ones – who are weak and easily controlled by others. The former is not realistic, but the latter is too realistic. Still, I like what I like, and I dislike what I dislike. In this case, the two things that bother me in fiction ended up in one book.
The Light of Paris is going to be one of those books that will encourage a love of Paris and help readers reassess their own lives. This is an important point. In Margie and Madeleine, readers can easily see themselves. Moreover, the two characters provide the inspiration for anyone to reflect on one’s dreams and passions and evaluate whether they can incorporate those dreams back into their lives. I really struggled to get past the somewhat formulaic plot and the annoying (to me) characters, but I just know that The Light of Paris is going to be a hot book this summer.
Show More
not enjoy in women’s fiction.This is not to say I did not enjoy the novel. There are parts of it that are enjoyable. The descriptions are Paris are entrancing; Ms. Brown makes even the most mundane experiences sound like an adventure. Watching Margie grow her wings and experience life for the first time is a true pleasure. Margie has a joie de vivre while there that only adds to the city’s charm. Oh to have been alive and young and in Paris during the 1920s!
The vibrancy of the Paris scenes contrast so severely from the modern scenes and the joy and sense of freedom you experience while reading about Paris disappear once the narration switches back to Madeleine. There is something about Madeleine’s constant inner monologue of excuses and justifications that quickly grows old, as does the nonstop questioning of her purpose in life. She is so defeatist; at one point in time, her mother accuses her of standing in her own way of happiness. The truth of this statement never really dawns on Madeleine. She interprets it as her mother means it – that she never gave her current life a chance. However, the opposite is true. She let others steamroll her into a box of a life that fit her no better than the proverbial square peg in a round hole and was conscious of it happening to her the entire time.
Therein lies my greatest problem with The Light of Paris and novels like it. I like my heroines to have a little more backbone and fight in them. Margie has some when she makes the decision to stay in Paris against her parents’ wishes but quickly loses that backbone when life takes an ill turn. Madeleine only gets a backbone upon reading her grandmother’s notebooks. One is left to wonder if she would have done anything different in her life had she never discovered them.
I know this is an unfair assessment. I do not like the happily ever after endings in such novels, but neither do I like characters – especially female ones – who are weak and easily controlled by others. The former is not realistic, but the latter is too realistic. Still, I like what I like, and I dislike what I dislike. In this case, the two things that bother me in fiction ended up in one book.
The Light of Paris is going to be one of those books that will encourage a love of Paris and help readers reassess their own lives. This is an important point. In Margie and Madeleine, readers can easily see themselves. Moreover, the two characters provide the inspiration for anyone to reflect on one’s dreams and passions and evaluate whether they can incorporate those dreams back into their lives. I really struggled to get past the somewhat formulaic plot and the annoying (to me) characters, but I just know that The Light of Paris is going to be a hot book this summer.
Show Less
LibraryThing member smallwonder56
The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown is one of the most delicious novels I've read in a long time. The two main characters, one a married women from the present day and her grandmother who spent time in Paris in the early 1920's, gave a wonderful contrast between living safely and living fully,
Show More
between choosing security versus choosing happiness. The stories were expertly interwoven and each served as the perfect counterpoint to the other. The writing was lovely, the characters well-drawn. I wanted to live in both worlds and shout my support at times for each of the characters. Wonderful book. I recommend it highly. (And The Weird Sisters was wonderful, too.) Show Less
LibraryThing member picardyrose
It made me long to go back to Paris, but I guessed all the twists. There was a lot of "How Terrible It Is to Be In Society" that I could not relate to at all.
LibraryThing member debnance
It had Paris in the title and an Eiffel Tower on the cover...I'm helpless in the face of these things to stop myself from nabbing this book.
It didn't take long for me to realize that this book was going to be a disappointment. Both of the main characters, 1999-era Madeleine and her grandmother
It didn't take long for me to realize that this book was going to be a disappointment. Both of the main characters, 1999-era Madeleine and her grandmother
Show More
Margie, disparage themselves and undermine themselves and allow themselves to be manipulated and make bad decisions in order to go along with others. These ladies don't even like themselves; how could the reader possibly like them. The plot is pat, too; Margie needs a place to stay and a place to stay appears, and Margie needs a job and a job appears. Sadly, Paris in the title and an Eiffel Tower on the cover isn't enough. Show Less
LibraryThing member mwatson4281
I so wanted to like this book. The premise was interesting, there were moments where the story really shone and I was so excited to keep reading, but it was so bogged down by Madeleine's point-of-view chapters.
Even suspending disbelief that in 1999 women were expected to sit at home and twiddle
Margie's chapters were more fun, and more believable, but even those took quite some time to pick up the pace.
It was a quick read, with sweet spots that I really enjoyed, but overall it just did not work for me.
Even suspending disbelief that in 1999 women were expected to sit at home and twiddle
Show More
their thumbs while their husbands were the sole breadwinners, Madeleine's bad attitude isn't doing anything for her. Feeling as though her choices were forced by her family is so incredibly childish. She speaks to her mother like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, not a grown woman who has found herself in an unhappy marriage. She spends the entire book blaming her situation on everyone but herself, only to decide in the end that she should forgive her mother, because things were complicated.Margie's chapters were more fun, and more believable, but even those took quite some time to pick up the pace.
It was a quick read, with sweet spots that I really enjoyed, but overall it just did not work for me.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mcelhra
I liked Margie’s story, which was told through her journal that her granddaughter Madeleine found. However, it was hard for me to muster up much sympathy for a Madeleine, a woman who had grown up rich and married a rich husband and was living the life of a rich socialite. No one forced her to get
I could empathize with Margie because she was growing up in the early 1900s, a time when women really didn’t have any other choice but to get married in order to have a decent life. And yet Margie is able to rebel for a summer and have a romantic, adventurous summer in Paris. I enjoyed reading about her life and adventures there.
I may have had my expectations too high for this book and that’s why I was so disappointed with it. I loved Eleanor Brown’s first book, The Weird Sisters, and I was hoping to love The Light of Paris just as much. It seems that Brown has fallen victim to the curse of the sophomore slump.
Show More
married and stay in that lifestyle. Her parents wouldn’t have disowned her if she didn’t get married. It was 1999 – she could have done anything really. Her lack of backbone made me angry with her. The reader was supposed to empathize with her but I just couldn’t.I could empathize with Margie because she was growing up in the early 1900s, a time when women really didn’t have any other choice but to get married in order to have a decent life. And yet Margie is able to rebel for a summer and have a romantic, adventurous summer in Paris. I enjoyed reading about her life and adventures there.
I may have had my expectations too high for this book and that’s why I was so disappointed with it. I loved Eleanor Brown’s first book, The Weird Sisters, and I was hoping to love The Light of Paris just as much. It seems that Brown has fallen victim to the curse of the sophomore slump.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy
I loved the Weird Sisters so I was really looking forward to reading this book. While this book is fine, it didn't live up to the Weird Sisters. I loved the grandmother and her story but the granddaughter got on my nerves. Since she was living in the 1990's, it was hard to believe that she thought
Show More
she couldn't do anything against her mother and husband. I'm not sorry that I read this book, just not my favorite. Maybe, it wasn't fair to read this after the wonderful Miss Jane... Show Less
LibraryThing member oldblack
I really enjoyed this book, which I picked up on the recommendation of a work colleague. Many reviews have argued that in 1999 when the main events take place, women could do anything, and yet Madeleine just follows a path which she thinks her parents want her to follow. I'm not so sure that's
Show More
true. I reckon many people fall into a pattern of life without really thinking about it, and it's only later that they realise they have sacrificed many options and are living a sad and unfulfilling life, Sure, this story is a little too romantic at times, but I found that it was told in such an interesting and engaging was that I was prepared to dismiss the romanticism. I will certainly read Brown's other novel, The Weird Sisters, which seems to be regarded as superior work. Show Less
LibraryThing member kimkimkim
When you strip away all the inner dialogue and rhetoric this is basically a story about emotional abuse. How to survive and ultimately thrive when you are constantly being told that you are too fat,too plain, not a good conversationalist and probably never going to find a husband. Such is the ugly
Show More
situation that Margie and Madeline must confront over and over and over and over ad nauseum. This story could have been effectively told in half the pages and save the reader endless repetition as grandmother and granddaughter attempt to escape the emotional morass of what is expected vis-a-vis what they desire of life. The third star was simply to acknowledge the quality of writing. Show Less
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
Two intertwining stories, one set in 1999 and the other in 1920s Paris, make up this novel about balancing finding oneself with responsibilities to family. In 1999 Chicago, Madeline struggles with her loveless marriage and her repressed passion for painting. Decades previous, her grandmother Margie
Show More
found herself alone in Paris, feeding her passion for writing, and in love with a handsome man. Madeline and Margie aren't the same, but they do grapple with different versions of the same problem: how to find happiness while also fulfilling familial duties. The answer turns out to be simpler for the more modern Madeline, but each woman finds a certain kind of peace in the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheYodamom
Imagine how our lives would have turned out if we hadn’t been afraid. I loved Sebastian, and Henry these men both sexy, and alive with dreams and happiness. The women, three generations, all suffering from making choices based on fear and peoples judgement. Finally one of them has broken the
This a multiple generational story about love, adventure, obligations, control, sacrifice, broken dreams, conformity and finally happiness. Freedom, has it’s price, and a good life is worth it.
I struggled in the beginning, almost dropping it early on. It was depressing, with a sad character, but then it started changing. The message is good, the stories are lovely and full of lessons on living.
Show More
pattern and becoming who she could be.This a multiple generational story about love, adventure, obligations, control, sacrifice, broken dreams, conformity and finally happiness. Freedom, has it’s price, and a good life is worth it.
I struggled in the beginning, almost dropping it early on. It was depressing, with a sad character, but then it started changing. The message is good, the stories are lovely and full of lessons on living.
Show Less
LibraryThing member NanetteLS
Art, life, love, Paris
A beautifully written story about a woman coming to terms with her choices as she learns her grandmother's story. Very enjoyable read.
A beautifully written story about a woman coming to terms with her choices as she learns her grandmother's story. Very enjoyable read.
Language
Original publication date
2016