Customer Reviews

A Garden in Paris

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mary Davis, the widow of a wealthy older man who never understood her, stumbles upon a thought-provoking inscription while shopping. It says, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."

Soon after, Mary finds herself writing a letter to Jean-Marc, an old flame to whom an apology is due. She mails the letter to his parents' home in Italy, hoping that he will meet her in Paris on Christmas Eve. She packs and flies off to Paris after writing a quick note to her household staff.

Liz, Mary's difficult adult daughter, reads the note and makes plans to follow her mother to Paris to save her from herself. However, in Paris, Liz's mouse of a mom has turned into a free-spirited woman who is considering buying a motorcycle. Liz is accepting of this until she realizes Mary is planning to rendezvous with her first love.

Mother and daughter dance and wrestle their way through the minefield of secrets Mary can no longer avoid. Mary and Jean-Marc also dance, when still more secrets are revealed, forcing them both to consider how they should proceed.

This is a terrific story about personal truths and how decisions can take people down different roads. The main characters, Mary and Jean-Marc, are so likeable that the reader wants them to end up together.

As with any good story, Mary's daughter Liz assumes the role as the antagonist set on charging ahead before thinking. It is a well-blended story and a nice cast. Be on the lookout for a sequel novel that will be entitled A Hilltop in Tuscany.

A Garden in Paris by Stephanie Grace Whitson is a poignant novel of acceptance and reconciliation.

After a lifetime of living for others, Mary Davis finds a framed motto at an antique market. It says, "It is never too late to be what you might have been." Mary decides that she must at least attempt to be what she might have been and free herself of the past that haunts her.

It is two years after her husband's death and the motto's simple statement offers her hope for the future. It also prompts her to write a letter that sets into motion a collision course with her past and present life.

Mary leaves for Paris following a disagreement with her only daughter, Elizabeth, who had always been "Daddy's girl." Through the family housekeeper, Elizabeth learns part of her mother's history - a history that her father would never allow her mother to live - and demanded that it be kept secret. Elizabeth learned that her beloved father cut her mother off from the very life she was born to live. And out of love and obligation, Mary did so.

It a rare act of spontaneity, Liz follows her mother to Paris where she attempts to reconcile with her mother, and there meets her own history face-to face, one she never imagined.

A Garden in Paris is a well-written novel that will keep you turning the pages and wanting more. It is, so far, my favorite 2005 Christian novel. The manner in which Whitson manages to incorporate faith into the story is ingenuous. I was thrilled to learn that there is a sequel to A Garden in Paris.

"A Garden in Paris" is a love story, family story, and a story of faith all rolled up into a read that will engage the reader until the final page.

Mary Elisabeth Davis has been living a lie in many ways. The death of her husband sets her on a new path. A path that will challenge her and bring secrets out and heal relationships that have been long neglected due to lack of understanding and effort. At one point she considered suicide but a motto she sees in an antique store, and an article she sees in a magazine brings back to life the memory of an old flame and the bad way things ended with them. Mary feels compelled to go back to Paris and see if she can find her first love and fix what went wrong so many years earlier. Can you go back to the past and find what you left behind? Or will faith in how things should have been what keeps things on track?

The relationship between Mary and her daughter Liz as well as Liz's relationship with her fiance Jeff are intricate and the motivation for this story. Readers will be taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with this story. I highly recommend Ms. Whitson's latest effort.

Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com

Stephanie Grace Whitson has a wonderful, sometimes witty voice and tells a fascinating, satisfying story. Layer by layer, revelations peel away and we discover surprising facts about the real and likeable characters. And in the process, maybe we discover things about ourselves--who we are, who we would like to be.

Vivid descriptions slip in to make Paris a beautiful main character in this story about Mary Davis, a new widow of a certain age. Finding a motto on a plaque, she is inspired to go back to Paris to pursue old dreams. There she learns that with God's help, indeed, "It is never too late to be what you might have been."

Based on everyone else's positive ratings of this book, I ordered A Garden in Paris hoping it would live up to those reviews. Sadly, it didn't. I found the character of Elizabeth extremely annoying- too petty, judgemental, and confrontational with her mother. The author relied too much on "telling" the story instead of "showing"- through more dialogue and action. Despite the good premise, I couldn't make myself keep reading. I'd recommend Kissing Adrien or Chateau of Echoes by Siri Mitchell if you want some wonderful, French fiction.

I really liked this book, and look forward to the sequel. I love all things french and romantic. I am at the age where I want to believe it is never too late to achieve your dream, and this book reinforced that! It is a good book to pick you up out of your doldrums.

I enjoyed this Christian Book that focuses on redemption, forgiveness and new starts. I am very interested in finding out what happens in the sequel ue out in 2006....left me wondering. Pick it up, it's a good one!

So much praise. I found it okay although the characters were a little frustrating to me. It took me quite a while to get through it even though it was an easy read. There's just not enough to pull me into the next book. Sorry.

Many years ago, Mary fell in love with a man in France, where she played the violin, loved life, and generally loved. Now, she is fifty, widowed, and nearly suicidal. On a whim, she writes a letter to her first love, telling him that she will meet him on Christmas Eve in a garden outside a church, a spot special to both of them. This news does not sit well with her daughter, who has inherited the role of running the family company from her late father and resents her mother's attempts to interfere in the company. The daughter, Liz, also knows nothing of her mother's past, by which I mean not just what she did but what she loved. Mary's husband forbade travel and music as a condition of their marriage.

So Mary zips off to Paris, and Liz, prodded by her fiancé, eventually follows suit, leading to a situation in which nearly everyone--Mary, her former lover, Liz--seems to be searching for his or her identity. These searches ultimately take on a religious nature as a devout Christian becomes a part more and more of the others' lives.

There is much to like in this book, but first my qualms. Mary seems a bit too saintlike in the way she has subverted her entire personality throughout her marriage. The trip to Paris seems a realistic response to a cloistered life, but I think she generally handles herself better than most people would. Second, it seems that wealth abounds in this book. All of the significant characters are wealthy. The same can be said of many books, of course, but here the wealth seems too easy and somewhat out of place. It allows the characters to do things that most of us could never do--buy expensive gifts, get the best seats at the New Year's Eve ballet, travel to Europe without much notice. Moreover, to the extent that this book is spiritual, the affluence seems just off, which is not to say that Christians should live in abject poverty but to suggest that perhaps the characters are somewhat removed from the rest of us. Finally, the book takes a while to get going, shifting back and forth among multiple points of view as it does.

Still, the story is charming at times without being trite. The spiritual message is largely nonsectarian and not too heavy-handed (though there might be a bit too much Celestine Prophecy influence here to suit some Christians) or disruptive, and the ending is ultimately satisfying.

I could not put this book down. The characters, the story, the scenery. Mary has lost her husband (he passed away), and is struggling to find her way back to who she was. She had definitely lost herself over the years and finally is ready with God's help to make some monumental changes in her life. She leaves her home in Omaha and goes back to Paris. Paris was a big part of her young life, but she has not spoken about it for years, her daughter doesn't even know she's ever been there. The mother-daughter relationship is another vital part of the story. Mary takes us on a wonderful tour of a beautiful city and I was enchanted. The story has many twists and turns which kept me interested until the very end. This was one of my very favorite books I've ever read and I read everyday. I couldn't wait to purchase the sequel, "Hilltop in Tuscany". If you like Christian fiction you will love this book, I guarantee it. Read on!!!!