Red is my Heart by Antoine Laurain, Le Sonneur (Illustrator), Jane Altken (Translator)
Sleeping with Paris by Juliette Sobanet
WW2 espionage thriller set in DOVER
Ten Great Romances Set in PARIS
8th March 2024
Ten Great Romances set in Paris. Paris whispers romance. In Spring, blossoms paint the city in pastel hues. Lovers stroll hand-in-hand along the Seine, sunlight dappling through budding leaves. Cafes buzz with laughter as couples share croissants and whispered secrets. The Eiffel Tower, adorned with twinkling lights, stands as a silent witness to stolen kisses under a sky painted with the promise of new beginnings.
Here are ten of our favourite Paris-based Romance novels.
Red is my Heart by Antoine Laurain, Le Sonneur (Illustrator), Jane Altken (Translator)
How can you mend a broken heart? Do you write a letter to the woman who left you – and post it to an imaginary address? Buy a new watch, to reset your life? Or get rid of the jacket you wore every time you argued, because it was in some way … responsible?
Combining the wry musings of a rejected lover with playful drawings in just three colours – red, black and white – bestselling author of The Red Notebook, Antoine Laurain, and renowned street artist Le Sonneur have created a striking addition to the literature of unrequited love.
Sharp, yet warm, whimsical and deeply Parisian, this is a must for all Antoine Laurain fans.
The Secret Paris Cinema Club by Nicolas Barreau
Alain Bonnard, the owner of a small art cinema in Paris, is a dyed-in-the-wool nostalgic. In his Cinéma Paradis there are no buckets of popcorn, no XXL colas, no Hollywood blockbusters. Alain holds firm to his principles of quality – to show films that bring dreams to life, make people fall in love. And Alain would do anything for his clientele – particularly the mysterious woman in the red coat who, for some time now, has turned up every Wednesday and always sits in row seventeen. What could her story be?
Finally one evening Alain plucks up courage to invite the unknown beauty to dinner. But just as the most tender of love stories is getting under way, something happens that turns Alain’s life upside down, shoving his little cinema unexpectedly into the public eye. So when the woman in the red coat suddenly vanishes from his life, the cinema owner can’t help but wonder if it is more than a coincidence. Taking matters into his own hands, Alain sets off in search of the stranger he has come to love – roll the opening credits for a timeless cinematic romance worthy of the Parisian silver screen!
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan
As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work: mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate: made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.
It’s a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime – to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.
Thirty Days in Paris by Veronica Henry
Years ago, Juliet left a little piece of her heart in Paris – and now, separated from her husband and with her children flying the nest, it’s time to get it back!
So she puts on her best red lipstick, books a cosy attic apartment near Notre-Dame and takes the next train out of London.
Arriving at the Gare du Nord, the memories come flooding back: bustling street cafés, cheap wine in candlelit bars and a handsome boy with glittering eyes.
But Juliet has also been keeping a secret for over two decades – and she begins to realise it’s impossible to move forwards without first looking back.
Something tells her that the next thirty days might just change everything…
The Confectioner’s Tale by Laura Madeleine
At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner’s daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air.
But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins.
Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words ‘Forgive me’. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.
“A decadent story of love and scandal that sweeps you away to Paris”
French Lessons by Ellen Sussman
The only thing that lasts is love, even when it’s gone. Three French tutors meet at a small café that spills out onto the sunny Parisian backstreet of Rue du Paradis. Nico, Philippe and Chantal meet here every Wednesday morning, before leading their students along the grand boulevards, winding alleyways and sweetly perfumed jardins of the city of lights. But today’s lesson will be very different – and none of them are remotely prepared. Josie arrives in Paris desperate, alone, and hopeful that this trip might mend her broken heart. Ex-pat Riley is a long way from home and drifting further and further away from her husband. Could Philippe provide the distraction she craves – and can she gain the courage to break free? Jeremy is the dutiful husband of his famous actress wife. While she is busy filming on the banks of the Seine, he is content playing second fiddle. Until he meets Chantal… In the haze of a Paris summer, long-buried secrets rise to the surface and relationships are challenged. Can the lessons learned in one day change all of their tomorrows?
Hidden in Paris by Corine Gantz
In a tale of friendship, self-discovery and love, three women running away from their lives become unlikely friends in a beautiful house in the heart of Paris.
Lost in France, a country she mistrusts, among French people she hardly understands, Annie has trouble venturing away from home since the death of her husband. And since home happens to be a small jewel of a house nestled in the heart of Paris, why would she ever want to? But when bankruptcy threatens her beloved house, her one anchor in life, Annie has no choice but to find renters, and quick.
Leave it to someone socially phobic to phrase a want ad in all the wrong ways. With shimmering promises of ‘Starting over in Paris’ — a concept she has no intention of applying to her own life–Annie attracts tenants with the kind of baggage that doesn’t fit in suitcases. A long-legged, cool-headed ex model (everything Annie is not) on the run from her abusive husband, a frail young woman harboring a possible death wish, a mysterious French artist, and an infuriating blue-blooded French man soon threaten Annie’s way of life in ways she never anticipated.
But when Annie finds herself reluctantly yet actively engaged in the rescue of her tenants, she discovers that she might just save herself in the process.
Lessons in French by Hilary Reyl
First love: first heartbreak. First job: first nightmare boss. A seductive coming-of-age tale set in the most romantic city on earth.
Fresh out of university and determined to dream big, Kate can hardly believe her luck when she lands a job as a ‘little-bit-of-everything’ to the world famous photo-journalist Lydia Schell. Better still, the job is in Paris, and her guide to the most romantic city on earth is the handsome Olivier. The Berlin Wall is about to come tumbling down, and the world feels full of possibility.
But the oh-so-charming Lydia turns out to be the boss from hell. The ‘little-bit-of-everything’ includes collecting under-the-counter diet pills and walking a flatulent dog round the rainy streets of the sixth arrondissement. And the gorgeous Olivier? He happens to be dating Lydia’s daughter…
As the two worlds of her disastrous job and exciting flirtation look set to collide, Kate is about to get a fast education in the French approach to having it all.
Sleeping with Paris by Juliette Sobanet
Charlotte Summers is a sassy, young French teacher who is two days away from moving to Paris with the love of her life and from fulfilling her dream of studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University in France. But when she discovers her fiancé’s online dating profile and has a little chat with the busty red-head he’s been sleeping with on the side, she gives up on committed relationships altogether and decides to navigate Paris on her own.
Determined to stop other women from finding themselves in her shoes, Charlotte creates an anonymous blog on how to date like a man in the City of Love-that is, how to jump from bed to bed without ever falling in love. But, with a slew of Parisian men beating down her door, a hot new neighbor who feeds her chocolate in bed, and an appearance by her sleazy ex-fiancé, she isn’t so sure she can keep her promise to remain commitment-free.
And, when Charlotte agrees to write an article for a popular women’s magazine about her Parisian dating adventures-or disasters, rather-will she risk losing the one man who’s swept her off her feet and her dream job in one fell swoop?
The Milliner’s Secret by Natalie Meg Evans
June 1940. As Paris, the City of Light, approaches its darkest hour, a young woman treads the line between survival and collaboration.
Londoner Cora Masson has reinvented herself as Coralie de Lirac, using a false claim to aristocratic birth to launch herself as a fashionable milliner. When the Nazis invade, the influence of a high-ranking lover protects her business.
But the cruel demands of war – and of love – cannot be kept at bay forever. Soon Coralie must find the courage to do what’s necessary to protect her friends, her freedom and everything she believes in.
Enjoy our selection of great Romances set in Paris!
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