
The Paris Novel
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Narrated by:
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Kiiri Sandy
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By:
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Ruth Reichl
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “mouthwatering” (The New York Times) adventure through the food, art, and fashion scenes of 1980s Paris—from the bestselling author of Save Me the Plums and Delicious!
“An enchanting and irresistible feast . . . As with a perfect meal in the world’s most magical city, I never wanted this sublime novel to end.”—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of Good Company
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Saveur, Food & Wine, Bookreporter, The Charlotte Observer
Stella reached for an oyster, tipped her head, and tossed it back. It was cool and slippery, the flavor so briny it was like diving into the ocean. Oysters, she thought. Where have they been all my life?
When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading “Go to Paris.” Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a traumatic childhood has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. But when her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes.
Alone in a foreign city, Stella falls into old habits, living cautiously and frugally. Then she stumbles across a vintage store, where she tries on a fabulous Dior dress. The shopkeeper insists that this dress was meant for Stella and for the first time in her life Stella does something impulsive. She buys the dress—and embarks on an adventure.
Her first stop: the iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots, where Stella tastes her first oysters and then meets an octogenarian art collector who decides to take her under his wing. As Jules introduces Stella to a veritable who’s who of the Paris literary, art, and culinary worlds, she begins to understand what it might mean to live a larger life.
As weeks—and many decadent meals—go by, Stella ends up living as a “tumbleweed” at famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, uncovers a hundred-year-old mystery in a Manet painting, and discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past. A feast for the senses, this novel is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home.
©2024 Ruth Reichl (P)2024 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Reichl['s] . . . writing reads like a dish you want to savor, slowly chewing each perfectly chosen word as she describes the distinct experience of eating ortolan for the first time or sipping a red wine that tastes like ‘liquid rubies.’”—Eater
“A delicious feast for the senses, taking the reader on an enchanting journey through the city of love, and following Stella’s adventure into a bolder, more beautiful life.”—Oprah Daily
“[E]nticing . . . Reichl keeps the wine—and mouthwatering prose—flowing. . . . When a waiter drops an extra dessert on the table, better not send it back to the kitchen.”—The New York Times
Editorial Review
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- By: Kiley Reid
- Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young Black woman out late with a White child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.
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This is embarrassing!
- By Anonymous User on 01-31-20
By: Kiley Reid
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The Austen Escape
- By: Katherine Reay
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mary Davies finds safety in her ordered and productive life. Working as an engineer, she genuinely enjoys her job and her colleagues—particularly a certain adorable and intelligent consultant. But something is missing. When Mary’s estranged childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer, offers her a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in England, she reluctantly agrees in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways.
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I like this foray into Jane Austin
- By MVF on 04-08-18
By: Katherine Reay
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The Invisible Hour
- A Novel
- By: Alice Hoffman
- Narrated by: Jessie Mueller
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?
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An exquisite story about love and libraries.
- By Lori A Benson on 09-26-23
By: Alice Hoffman
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The Borrower
- A Novel
- By: Rebecca Makkai
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, 10-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading but needs Lucy's help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes with celebrity Pastor Bob. Lucy stumbles into a moral dilemma when she finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a knapsack of provisions and an escape plan.
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Great story and great performance!
- By Anonymous User on 01-29-21
By: Rebecca Makkai
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Swimming in Paris
- A Life in Three Stories
- By: Colombe Schneck, Lauren Elkin - translator, Natasha Lehrer - translator
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Seventeen, Friendship, and Swimming, Colombe Schneck orchestrates a coming-of-age in three movements. Beautiful, masterfully controlled, yet filled with pathos, they invite the listener into a decades-long evolution of sexuality, bodily autonomy, friendship, and loss.
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a chronicle of transitions
- By Amazon Customer on 05-30-24
By: Colombe Schneck, and others
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The Stars Are Fire
- A Novel
- By: Anita Shreve
- Narrated by: Suzanne Elise Freeman
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In October 1947, after a summer-long drought, fires break out all along the Maine coast, from Bar Harbor to Kittery, and are soon racing out of control from town to village. Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband, Gene, joins the volunteer firefighters. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, Grace watches helplessly as their houses burn to the ground, the flames finally forcing them all into the ocean as a last resort.
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Disaster Strikes In 1947
- By Sara on 06-02-17
By: Anita Shreve
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Under the Southern Sky
- By: Kristy Woodson Harvey
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Michael Crouch, Rebekkah Ross, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Recently separated Amelia Saxton, a dedicated journalist, never expected that uncovering the biggest story of her career would become deeply personal. But when she discovers that a cluster of embryos belonging to her childhood friend Parker and his late wife Greer have been deemed “abandoned”, she’s put in the unenviable position of telling Parker - and dredging up old wounds in the process.
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Lacking
- By Elle D. on 06-17-21
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Meet Me at the Lake
- By: Carley Fortune
- Narrated by: AJ Bridel, Carley Fortune
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in the city. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t.
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Transparent life
- By Amazon Customer on 06-25-23
By: Carley Fortune
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The Pull of the Stars
- A Novel
- By: Emma Donoghue
- Narrated by: Emma Lowe
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders - Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumored Rebel on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other's lives in unexpected ways.
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A compelling that relates to today’s times
- By Liana Murzak on 07-29-20
By: Emma Donoghue
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The Light of Luna Park
- By: Addison Armstrong
- Narrated by: Rachel L. Jacobs, Karissa Vacker
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
New York City, 1926. Nurse Althea Anderson's heart is near breaking when she witnesses another premature baby die at Bellevue Hospital. So when she reads an article detailing the amazing survival rates of babies treated in incubators in an exhibit at Luna Park, Coney Island, it feels like the miracle she has been searching for. But the doctors at Bellevue dismiss Althea and this unconventional medicine, forcing her to make a choice between a baby's life and the doctors' wishes that will change everything.
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So not believable and extremely sappy * Spoilers*
- By gogacks on 09-26-23
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Between You and Us
- A Novel
- By: Kendra Broekhuis
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Leona Warlon heads across the city to meet her husband, David, for a rare dinner out, she hopes they can share a moment of relief after their year of loss. But Leona quickly realizes this is no ordinary date night. She hasn’t just stepped into an upscale ristorante; she’s stepped into a different version of her life. One in which her marriage is no longer tender, in which her days are pressured by her powerful in-laws, and in which her precious baby girl lived.
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Such a great book!!
- By Mykayla Johnson on 10-10-24
By: Kendra Broekhuis
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Statistically Speaking
- By: Debbie Johnson
- Narrated by: Louise Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On paper, Gemma's life is just like any other successful, single thirtysomething. Her students adore her. She lives in a cute beachside cottage next door to the world's sweetest neighbor, Margie. And she's definitely caught the eye of Karim, the resident hot PE teacher at her school. But every day of her life, she can't get one thing out of her mind: the baby she gave up for adoption when Gemma was just sixteen years old. This is the year that Baby--the only name Gemma has for her little girl--will turn eighteen. And it might be the year she actually meets her daughter face-to-face.
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Completely unlikable main character
- By Abby on 03-19-25
By: Debbie Johnson
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Lincoln in the Bardo
- A Novel
- By: George Saunders
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.”
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"Where might God stand?"
- By Mel on 02-17-17
By: George Saunders
Good story, not so good reader
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A taste of champagne…
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Really well done
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Delightful!
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Delightful,!
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Wonderful story of a woman finding herself in Paris
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Descriptions of Paris Made you feel like you were there
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What a wonderful walk through art, food and family
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Charming
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Food & Art
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