Dîner à Paris [Dinner in Paris]

A Story in Easy French with Translation, Vol. 3 (Belles histoires à Paris) [A Story in Easy French with Translation, Vol. 3 (Beautiful Stories in Paris)]

By: France Dubin

Narrated by: France Dubin

Jacqueline, a middle aged American woman, is happily married to Raphaël, the owner of a charming little restaurant in Paris. She absolutely loves her life in this city. But a sudden tragedy derails her perfect life.

With this novel, written in easy French, we visit the city of lights with Jacqueline. It's a fantastic way to learn new vocabulary and to travel to Paris!

Reading a book in French can be difficult, even for advanced learners. French novels are usually full of idiomatic expressions. They use complicated tenses, complex sentence structures, and often slang. This book, written in easy French, is recommended for French learners with a basic understanding of French at a pre-intermediate level and above. The audio version is the entire story, read in French. The paper and Kindle editions of the book have additional content, and are divided into two sections: Section 1 has the story written completely in French, plus vocabulary and grammar exercises. Section 2 contains the complete translation in English and answers to all the exercises so that readers can check their comprehension.

Please note: This audiobook is in French.

©2021 France Dubin (P)2021 France Dubin

Nuanced Story

I have listened to all of this series to date, and it is rewarding to experience the lead character come to realizations about herself and to go along with her as she takes risks and also as she realizes that in the past she may not have been willing to stake enough of a claim when she wanted to. She is perceptive and introspective--and yet not so much so that there are not surprises for her and us. This book offers emotional surprises, and the day-to-day challenges of the restaurant make for a welcome realism. The characters, as always, are believable--very real. The vocabulary in this audiobook was a bit more difficult for me than the other audiobooks, though not significantly. There are a dozen or so words I would like to revisit, but the story came through clearly. Now I want to learn to make crepes...

Ideal! A real story you can understand!

This is the final book of a series of three novellas, and it does have a happy ending. Kind of. I'm certainly going to be getting more from this author.

I've moved to France, and the problem with French audiobooks is they can be way too fast for non-French speakers. I usually listen on around 80% speed in the hope of catching every 2nd word or so. This book is written and read for non-French speakers, with simple sentence constructions. Also she reads slowly and clearly, so it's a great way to build confidence before venturing onto harder material. And, it's a real story, not those silly interactions that pass off as stories. It's a series of three novellas, which should be read in sequence. The audiobooks do not come with the supplementary English translation and quiz, but if you're training your ear, that should not be a problem.

I see she has written some murder mysteries, which I will try next.

Great way to study French

All the books in this series are great for studying French. I have listened multiple times understanding more and more with each listen.

Interesting story and very easy to understand French

The author accentuates and speaks in a calm way which is easy to understand and follow along with. The author’s work is great for new to intermediate French students. Je le recommande vivement pour apprendre le français parlé !

Phenomenal learning

Thank you France Dubin. I listen to your stories almost every night. I never get tired of them as I try to pick up French vocabulary.

Enjoyable - uses real life experiences

Use of new and old vocabulary, writes about places in Paris that I have visited. I recommend this listen to all advanced beginners.