Goodbye Paris by Anstey Harris

Title: Goodbye Paris

Author: Anstey Harris

Read by:  Tania Rodrigues

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 57 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

Goodbye Paris is a fascinating character novel where a woman finds herself after losing it all in her middle age.  I am typically not fond of novels that are about marital affairs, but Goodbye Paris did a great job of making me feel bad for the “other woman.”  Grace Atherton was once an up and coming celloist until a professor at her elite college destroyed her self-esteem and kicked her out of the musical program.  Grace picked up the pieces and now has become a craftsman of beautiful instruments.  She loves her life with her teenage clerk Nadia, customer Mr. Williams, and her longtime partner David.  She dreams of the day that David will leave his wife when their children are grown and start their life together.  Those dreams crash down one day when David rescues a woman at the Paris Metro station and he is suddenly on the news.  The details of his past come out and Grace is crushed in the process.  What is David’s secret and how will Grace move forward?

The novel had a great unique story line and the characters were wonderful.  I really liked Grace’s growth throughout the novel where she can confront her past and her present, what does she want to really do with her life?  How is she treating her friends?  Speaking of her friends, Mr. Williams and Nadia are two of the greatest secondary characters ever.   I loved Mr. Williams back story of being a gay man in a repressed society and I love how he helps Grace and Nadia.  Nadia is a teen with a lot of teen angst problems and a great love of music.  They are all trying to find their way in the world and discover that good friendships can be like a great family.

This was a wonderful book, but I had a real hard time in the beginning because of one of the items I have discussed on this blog before.  I picked this audiobook to listen to as it was compared to “JoJo Moyes” on the cover.  I thought it would be a humorous book, which it is not.  As I got more into the novel, I realize that the comparison must have been for the unique characters because otherwise it is not like the novels it was compared to.  Once I got past the hurdle of my expectations, I came to really enjoy the novel.

I loved the narrator Tania Rodrigues and I especially loved the sound effects when people made phone calls.  I only wish there were more sound effects in audiobooks in general.

Overall, Goodbye Paris was a wonderful book about dealing with life's hurdles and how friendship can help you through it.