Paris?? No Really, It's Research! @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: You might remember when I wrote about a nubbin of an idea for a women’s fiction a.k.a. book club book mostly set in Paris. Last week I was thrilled to start thinking about the novel while actually on the scene. A Recipe for Paris or The Paris Recipe (working titles) isn’t a sequel to The Ingredients of Happiness but it takes off from (will take off from!) one of the subplots from that book about a girl given up for adoption as a baby, her birth mother, and her unknown birth father. Once the mother, Betty, finds her daughter, Winifred, she gives her a box of clippings she’s been keeping for 20 years about the biological father, who is a patisserie chef in Paris. Winifred decides she has to go meet him in order to understand herself. You can see why I had to go back to Paris to do the research!

As we walked and walked and walked the city streets, I tried to keep Winnie's story burbling in the background. What would she see and feel and taste?

(I'm not sure how she'll end up hearing a concert like the one we did, but it will happen...)

Many of the Paris novels I’ve read over the past few years involve a secret inheritance, maybe a high couture dress or a fabulous apartment left languishing for years. I don’t expect to find either of these in the book I’m planning, but there will surely be an unexpected upper crust grandmother. I had such fun, figuring out where she lives (the seventh arrondissement), which is old money, and very formal. Maybe it would look something like this? 

or this? 

(Photo from the Sotheby’s booklet of Parisian apartments for sale.)

When Winifred arrives in Paris to work for her biological father (who knows nothing about her), I’m pretty sure she’ll be assigned to live in a bunk on a houseboat on the Seine until she gets her bearings. It might very well look like this: 

I’ll be telling you lots more as the story evolves, but if you’re heading for Paris for real, or want to go in your imagination, I recommend these blogs: David Lebovitz, Heather Stimmler's Secrets of Paris, Cake Boy Paris on Instagram, the Real Emily in Paris, Dorie Greenspan, Paris by Mouth. Here are a few of the novels and memoirs I’ve enjoyed: there are so many more!

Hidden in Paris

Almost French

The Paris Wife

My Life in France

The Sweet Life in Paris

Paris is Always a Good Idea (Jenn!)

The Paris Dress

The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris

The Paris Dressmaker

Jacqueline in Paris

The Paris Library

The Keeper of Happy Endings

The Paris Key

Cara Black's mysteries

Sophie Valroux's Paris Stars

and of course...

Rhys's THE PARIS ASSIGNMENT, which kept me glued to my kindle app on the long trip home...

 

Meanwhile, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS, where Winnie makes her first appearance will be in bookstores July 4 –I'm so excited! Reviewers, you can get your copy on NetGalley now.

Reds, do you share my Paris obsession? Or have a place you visited or yearned to visit that would make a great story?

PS Reds, Barnes and Noble is running a big 25% off sale on all pre-orders (print, ebook, and I think audio--for two days only! You can pop over and preorder any of the upcoming Reds' titles!