Plum Blossoms in Paris [Paperback]

Sarah Hina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2010

Post-grad neuroscience student Daisy Lockhart has never been short on brains, but after her longtime boyfriend, Andy Templeton, dumps her through e-mail, she is short on dreams. Alone for the first time in six years, Daisy allows herself to finally be an individual instead of half of a couple. On a mission towards self-discovery, new adventures, and healing her wounded soul, Daisy travels to Paris. Upon her arrival, she meets Mathieu, a mysterious intellectual with a carefree spirit, and Daisy begins to experience the passion and the fulfillment she craves. Daisy's tense battle between possible love and her newly found freedom forces her to decide what she really wants.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her debut novel, Hina tracks a poetic Parisian romance between an American tourist and a French writer. Daisy, a 23-year-old neuroscience grad, has dropped her lab-rat life in Ohio for an open-ended trip to Paris after getting dumped by her longtime boyfriend. Named by her father after Henry James's novella, Daisy is "trying to outrun a broken heart" in her search for "the iconic bohemian chase" experienced by great 20th-century writers and artists in Montmartre. On her train ride to the city from the airport, she has a chance encounter with Mathieu, a writer and tour guide. They meet again by happenstance at the Musée d'Orsay and fall into a whirlwind affair. The lovers set out on one of Mathieu's city-wide tours, playfully debating current events, art, literature, and their disparate cultures. Hina's unrelenting lyrical composition may turn some readers off, but the tone brings a fantastical quality to the dreamer's idyll of a romantic tryst with an artistic Frenchman in Paris. (Aug.) (c)
Copyright © PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

When her longtime boyfriend Andy unexpectedly dumps her, Daisy Lockhart takes a break from her life and heads to Paris to try and put together the broken pieces of her heart. Daisy's romantic recovery in France happens more quickly than she expects, though, once she meets freelance tour guide and writer Mathieu. As the two explore enchanting Paris, they find themselves falling in love, but Mathieu has some emotional baggage from the past that threatens their romance. Rich in fascinating details about the art and culture of Paris, Hina's debut novel is a terrific literary love letter to the City of Light. While the plot—especially the ending—challenges the reader's willing suspension of disbelief, the writing itself is imbued with a stylish sense of wit. Plum Blossoms in Paris is chick lit with a très chic accent. --John Charles

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Medallion Press (June 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160542126X
• ISBN-13: 978-1605421261
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sarah Hina hails from Athens, Ohio. A former medical student and lab rat, Sarah now writes in between mothering two kids, watching films with her husband, and escaping into the outdoors with her camera and dog. Plum Blossoms In Paris is her debut novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Depth and Honest Emotion, July 4, 2010

By 

Jason Evans (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plum Blossoms in Paris (Paperback)

Plum Blossoms has a depth not common in novels anymore, and that's why it's a refreshing read. Everyone hits a time when foundations are rocked and you lose sight of who you are and what you've been doing with your life. Daisy faces those questions by leaving her comfort zone (and country) and plunging into the streets of Paris. The man she meets there is a worthy adversary to tear those foundations down farther, and she causes his to fall too. Not an easy love story, but you can't look away as they tangle in the raw emotion and begin to find their footing again. I guarantee you'll remember these two characters.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Language as Art, July 21, 2010

By 

Stephen Parrish (Germany) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plum Blossoms in Paris (Paperback)

PLUM BLOSSOMS IN PARIS is an exquisitely written debut, told from the perspective of Daisy Lockhart, who treats herself to an open-ended vacation in Paris after her high school sweetheart dumps her. There she meets Mathieu, a writer, "the distractible type, who neglects to eat because there are other, less ridiculous, matters at hand." Mathieu too is looking for balance, having just lost his mother, a woman whose past makes Daisy an ironic choice of lover.

Yet lovers they become, and Daisy is treated to the feast that is Paris. The novel is rich in cultural references, especially literature and art. The city is viewed through eyes both reverent and critical, as Daisy allows her senses to be filled while at the same time checking her emotional responses against the American within her, an identity she holds close. Her relationship with Mathieu is a study in compatibility. The story gradually focuses on whether Daisy will choose to remain in Paris with him: the reader can't help making ever-refined predictions and vacillating on whether she should. The author does a splendid job of leaving the matter undecided until the end.

The strength of this novel is the writing. The prose is stylish, sensitive, and refined, the result of a natural born poet tackling a larger canvas. PLUM BLOSSOMS demands a second reading merely for the beauty of its language. The promise of the author's next novel, and writing career, is high.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars entertaining contemporary relationship drama, July 30, 2010

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Plum Blossoms in Paris (Paperback)

Andy, her boyfriend in high school, college and graduate school, unceremoniously dumps Daisy Lockhart. Heartbroken as she never saw it coming and assumed as her only boyfriend she ever had, they would always be together. Daisy, unlike her Henry James' namesake, travels to Paris rather than Rome. There the American meets writer Mathieu, who grieves the recent death of his mother.

Mathieu and Daisy become lovers. He shows her a side of the city that few Americans ever see especially the arts and the legends that make Paris what it is. As they remain together, Daisy knows she delays the inevitable of choosing between being an American in Paris or an American in America.

This is an entertaining contemporary relationship drama in which Paris owns the story line. The city is seen mostly through the admiring, adoring and to a lesser degree disapproving eyes of the American in Paris. The lead couple is a wonderful cross Atlantic pairing, but more so the blossoming Daisy; as readers will wonder whether Daisy will follow the dreams of her heart or the American dreams she left back home.

Harriet Klausner