The French Effect - by Patricia Sands (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

From the bestselling author of the LOVE IN PROVENCE series, comes a hopeful and heartwarming journey that reminds us it's never too late for a second chance.

France has a way of changing your mind ... and your heart ...

Novelist Nora Bennett is living her fifties with more doubts than dreams. Once content with her quiet life, she's recently found herself battling writer's block, a growing restlessness-and resistance to a holiday season she's long stopped celebrating. So, when her daughter Chloe, an artist living in Paris, asks her to dog-sit an intimidating Doberman named Atticus, Nora surprises

them both by saying yes.

Delicious meals, long walks through the storied streets of Montmartre, and a chance to rediscover a spark of joy in the glittering holiday lights of Paris: Six weeks in the City of Light might be just the escape Nora needs.

Except Paris has other plans. Nora agrees to ghostwrite a memoir for 93-year-old Marie-Louise, who reveals haunting memories of surviving the Occupation as a child of the Resistance. A charming younger tango partner with secrets of his own introduces Nora to the French art of pleasure. All the while, the city's irresistible festive spirit envelops her gently.

Chloe invites Nora to spend Christmas at her husband Olivier's centuries-old ancestral farm in Provence. There, Nora is embraced by the warmth of family and treasured traditions. She's also unexpectedly drawn to Pierre, her son-in-law's moody and magnetic father. Their connection is undeniable, even as he seems intent on keeping his distance.

But when Atticus suddenly goes missing, Pierre joins Nora in searching for him. Soon a winding road trip returning to Paris softens their defenses ... and reveals complicated truths behind their guarded hearts.

Yet as Nora's time in France begins to wind down, she must decide: Return to the comfort of the life she knew - or leap into a bold new chapter she never imagined beyond the pages of her novels.