Disclosure: I received a review copy from the authors. I was not asked to write about this book nor am I being compensated for doing so. This post was not reviewed by the authors/ publisher prior to publication.
Happy French Friday!
Coming at you with a lovely escape from real life in the form of The French Professor, penned by mother-daughter duo Susanne Huffman and Mindy Nix: French professors and lifelong Francophiles and owners of the business Oui & Sí, where they share their love of language, travel, and culture (attention: cute products alert!).
From the publisher:
Margaret is a middle-aged divorcée with a laundry list of neuroses. Flying, germs and social situations all make her sweat. She’s spent her life hiding behind her intense job and rigid routines, which is why she’s as surprised as anyone when she abruptly walks away from her career to study French. This leap of faith snowballs into opportunities and experiences she could never have dreamed of.
Travel, university, romance… none of these were on Margaret’s agenda but her adventures – mostly exciting, sometimes terrifying, often both – will shake up her life and lead her on an unexpected path.
Set between charming Greenwich, Connecticut and Paris, France, this feel good story will warm your soul like a hot café crème on a chilly Parisian morning.
It’s lovely to see an older protagonist living her dreams at an age many might consider her “too old” to do so (and maybe part of the reason her Paris experience might be different than say, someone much younger following their dreams or heart to Paris!). Yes, Margaret is living some French clichés, and the Paris depicted is probably not the city most people experience when they live there, but her tale of escaping a train-train quotidien (humdrum life), after a health scare, to pursue her passion for learning French and the opportunities (that most people “of a certain age” would only dare dream about) it leads to is inspiring.
It’s truly heart-warming to read how she manages to turn her life around from working to LIVING and enjoying every moment. You can tell Nix and Huffman are Francophiles, readers, language learners, and travellers themselves – their passion for all of this leaps off every page.
This will bring a smile to your face and – warning – it might make you start thinking about something you could do to shake up your life. Maybe not a complete shakeup like Margaret but hey, take that language course, go on that trip, take up that new hobby. This is a feel-good story par excellence. Perfect for a rainy afternoon on the couch as we move into chilly temperatures here in the northern hemisphere and a perfect beach read for those countries heading into summer.
Buy The French Professor on Amazon (this affiliate link should bring you to the Amazon store in, or closest to, your country). For free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to mazon.com and affiliated sites. This post also contains affiliate links from The Book Depository. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!
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Disclosure: I received a review copy from the authors. I was not asked to write about this book nor am I being compensated for doing so. This post was not reviewed by the authors/ publisher prior to publication.
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