The Good Life France Magazine




The Good Life France Magazine brings you the best of France - inspirational and exclusive features, fabulous photos, mouth-watering recipes, tips, guides, ideas and much more...


Published by the award winning team at The Good Life France

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2 years ago

Issue No. 13

A fun and festive edition: Provence, Christmas markets, brilliant book nooks in Paris, recipes, expat stories to inspire and a whole lot more - fall in love with France with us.

Paris Mon Amour Author

Paris Mon Amour Author Mark Pryor who's best selling Hugo Marston series is set in Paris, including The Paris Librarian and The Book Seller reveals the Paris he loves... Credit Doug Crawford True story: a year ago I ran into my friend David at the courthouse where I work in Austin and as we talked, he shook his head ruefully. “I bought my wife The Bookseller,” he said, “and now she wants to go to Paris. Insists on it.” I shrugged. “So take her to Paris.” “Yeah, that’s cheap. Plus I don’t have a passport and I don’t speak French. And I hear they hate Americans.” I sighed. “Take her to Paris.” Six months went by and I didn’t see David until I ran into him in the courthouse again. “Oh, my goodness,” he gushed. “We went to Paris and now we’re doing everything we possibly can to move there. We’re in love!” I was happy, am always happy, to share my favorite city in the world, but I wasn’t surprised. The city of light, of love, has that effect on people. That’s why I always smile when readers ask me why Paris, what the city means to me, why I set my books there. And it’s certainly true that I get asked those questions more than any other. In truth, and as corny as it may be, it comes down to that one word: love. Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables, “If you ask the great city, ‘Who is this person?,’ she will answer, ‘He is my child.’” Yes. As soon as I land or step off the train, Paris wraps herself around me, sometimes like a parent and sometimes like a lover, enveloping me with the sights, sounds, and smells that are its own.

© Paris Tourist Office David Lefranc The sullen, sexy Seine nudging its barges against the bank, the commanding palace of the Louvre with its leisurely gardens, the wide boulevards overseen by elegant stone buildings with their petite balconies and redblooming window boxes. It’s the oddest and most wonderful combination of relief that I’m home, and exhilaration that I’m back to explore. And think about this for a reason to love Paris and Parisians: the Cathedral of Notre Dame was saved by the author I just quoted. Victor Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame when he found out it was to be torn down, wrote it to raise awareness and money, and now look at it. A humble book inspired lasting love for a beautiful building. Where else could that happen?