Bringing Paris Mends Broken Hearts to… Paris!
Things in my life really felt like they came full circle when I had the opportunity to bring my beloved first book, Paris Mends Broken Hearts, with me to Paris during the summer of 2019.
I was ten years old the first time that I travelled to Paris. I went there with big dreams and an even bigger imagination. We stayed in the Latin Quarter (or 5th arrondissement) with a view of the Notre Dame and were just around the corner from the legendary bookshop Shakespeare & Company. I didn’t think that life could get any better than that. I left Paris with a sense of heartache, knowing that it would likely be a long before I returned.
It was no surprise that years later, my first published book was set in Paris – a place that set my imagination and dreams ablaze (I know I’m certainly not the first to have had this experience).
I began writing Paris Mends Broken Hearts in 2017. I was in my final year of graduate school, and although I was swamped with assignments and work, writing became a necessary part of my life. Inspired by an online ancestry search, I wanted to know about my French roots. One woman in particular – born in Larochelle and died in Paris – struck a chord with me. Why did she move to Paris? What was her story?
I would never have the chance to have these questions answered. But it sparked my imagination.
Here’s an excerpt from the back cover of Paris Mends Broken Hearts:
“Gwendoline Delacroix finds herself fleeing for Paris in a desperate attempt to escape the memories that haunt her in her French countryside chateau. Following the aftermath of WWII, she had become a widower and desperately missing her husband, Jean. Although her loyal and quirky staff do their best to keep her afloat, Gwendoline eventually takes charge and in a quick turn of events, finds herself at the Hotel de la Belle Paix – the hotel run by her brother and sister-in-law in the Latin Quarter in Paris.
Over the summer, Gwendoline finds work at an animal sanctuary run by an eccentric aristocrat. With new friends, an elderly cat, and a glass of wine in hand, Gwendoline proves to herself and everyone else that there is life after lost love.
Entertaining? Of course! Joyful? Undoubtedly. Champagne? Bien sur! In Paris, nothing is predictable, and everything is extraordinary.”
In 2018, Paris Mends Broken Hearts was published.
During the summer of 2019, I travelled to Paris with my husband during the tail-end of our honeymoon. Of course, I brought a copy of Paris Mends Broken Hearts along with me. It accompanied us to the Eiffel Tower, up the Arc de Triomphe, and of course, to the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame Cathedral…where it all began.
Available as an eBook, paperback, and audiobook, you can get a copy of Paris Mends Broken Hearts below:
