A beautifully written novel of self discovery in Paris. Mouth watering descriptions of Parisian foods with authentic Chefs of the time. Fashion, Art, food and Books steeping the readers in the heart of what is Paris. Shakespeare and Company ; Oh to be a tumbleweed. Paris has just jumped to the top of my Travel list.

A must read! Loved this book! Read it in one sitting. Needs recipes!
I was hungry the whole time i was reading this wonderful novel!

So ... Ruth Reichl was editor of Gourmet magazine for 10 years; she has been honored with 6 James Beard award for her journalism and features. The title of this book is The Paris Novel. There is a lot of food description ... you would expect it to me amazing ... and you won't be disappointed. (Or at least I wasn't.) It was interesting and unique. The eat foods in Paris that ... are definitely different than the US. Impressive.

So ... the title of the book includes the word "novel" and my mindset just went with the "novel" and "women's fiction" (since this didn't seem to be a romance ... and it really isn't). There really is a lot of historical information woven into this novel. Usually I stop reading around 60% and check to see if there is an Author's Note. I neglected to do that with The Paris Novel ... and REALLU wish I had read The Authors Note BEFORE I started reading this book. In my opinion, it didn't contain any spoilers and would have made reading the book much more interesting.

So ... about the book. Stella's mother passes away. Her will says she needs to liquidate her assets and spend them in Paris. Her boss tells her she needs to take some time off work (as a copy editor), so she ... goes to Paris.

I've never been to Paris; but I would love to go. Especially after reading The Paris Novel.

One of my first book club books was Delicious! by Ruth Reichl. I had requested Save Me the Plums previously via NetGalley and that request was rejected and I haven't yet gotten to it. I remember really enjoying Delicious! and I'm very thankful that my NetGalley request was approved by Penguin Random House ... more specifically my request for an advance read copy of The Paris Novel was provided in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is tentatively April 30, 2024. I highly recommend this one.

3.5 stars Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I've read almost all of the books by Ruth Reichl and her food writing is exquisite. This is her second foray into fiction writing I believe. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it.

Stars: Reichl's descriptions of food, both its appearance and taste are unmatched. She obviously knows Paris (the setting of the novel) very well and in her author's note she divulges which of the well known historical figures in the book she has met, lending more credence to her work. The book is a fairly quick read.

Wishes: I wish the storyline were a little tighter. The book opens with the traumatic childhood of the main character, Stella, and that was kind of surprising to me. I would have liked more info about her mother's motivations, and more description of the protaganist's humdrum life as an adult in the NYC in the 1980s. The story almost takes on a Forest Gump-like quality with amazing coincidences and brushes with famous literary people. The relationship between Stella and Jules, the older wealthy "fairy godfather" she meets, just didn't quite work for me for some reason.

A pretty and pretty tasty romp through Paris and its nearby countryside, a Cinderella story with a happy ending - all in all not bad, just not perfect.

The story was great but the descriptions of cooking and the food eaten was outstanding. Obviously Ruth Reichl knows food and this first novel shows that she can translate food into words that make the reader almost taste what she is describing.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Random House for sharing Ruth Reichl’s new novel. I loved it. She is such a descriptive writer, it only about food but also art and fashion. I felt like I was in Paris with the characters (and now want to go there). I also enjoyed the story and was rooting for the characters all the way through. Definitely recommend.

This is a great story with great characters. It can be described as a mystery with some interesting twists. At times though I had a hard time believing that people just happened to be in in certain places with connections to the main character. It was a fairy tale mystery. The Tumbleweeds were believable . At times the descriptions of the food bogged the story down. The author is a former food writer so I see why she might get caught up in the narrative. The book is set.up nicely though for a sequel

I adore Ruth Reichl when she writes about food. She is the best of the best. I was so looking forward to a new book of hers, but I truly with it had a trigger warning of some sort, or perhaps not felt the need to add the molestation of a child in a fiction novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

This was my first Ruth Reichl novel and it was great! Set in 1980s Paris the food descriptions alone make the novel worth it. The characters are so vivid and well described. Don't miss the author's note at the end as it provides additional context and details that made the novel that much better.

This story is so descriptive that it makes me feel like I am in Paris with the main character! I wish! The cuisine and scenery and art and fashion left me desiring a vacation to France. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.

If you're a fan of Ruth Reichl's amazing food writing—and you count wine, fashion, art and books among your interests—you'll enjoy this modern-day fairytale set in 1980s Paris. Stella is a young copy editor in New York City, with childhood trauma and a self-absorbed mother. When her mother dies, she stipulates that Stella's inheritance must be used for her to travel to Paris. Stella finds/rediscovers herself there, meeting a quirky/charming/romantic cast of characters along the way. The character do tend to be a bit one-sided (all good or all evil, not many shades of gray), but this is not necessarily a criticism of the novel. For me, this book is very much a fairytale, so the characters having that "one or the other" quality didn't detract from my enjoyment. Pour a glass of wine and give it a read! (Side note: I had not heard of ortolans before I read this novel. If you have not either, you are in for a surprise!) 🍷

Thanks so much to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with me a review copy!

Release date: April 2024 🗓️

this is a very sweet, earnest fairytale about life in paris through a cultural peak in the 80s. imagine rubbing shoulders with james baldwin in shakespeare and co! there are many beautiful descriptions of food, life in paris and france.... and yet, it actually pales in comparison to the paris described in her own memoirs... sometimes real life is more interesting than fiction. this isn't a bad read if you want escapist, mildly elevated 'emily in paris', but promise me you'll read Save me the Plums afterwards!

A totally romantic, engaging story about an intelligent young woman who finds her true self when she goes to Paris. Stella's colorful, erratic mother dies and leave her some money, with the stipulation that she use it for a ticket to Paris. Stella, in many ways the opposite of her mother, has built a staid, secure, if somewhat dull life as a copyeditor in a publishing house in New York. She's reluctant to leave, but does, and her life begins to change in many wonderful ways. The people, the fashion, the food -- hand this one to fans of Emily in Paris! It's lots of fun, and Stella is a great character. I look forward to recommending this title.

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl was beautiful! I’ve previously enjoyed Garlic and Sapphires as well as Save Me the Plums and was excited to try her fiction. I will give the warning that a child is molested in this book which I was caught off guard by.

Stella is a New Yorker with a glamorous self centered mother who upon her death wants Stella to go to Paris. In Paris Stella learns about food, love, and finds herself along the way.

I thought this book was beautifully done and enjoyed the descriptions of Paris and the food throughout. There was also a mystery of a female painter to uncover which was so fun!

Thanks once again to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy in exchange for a review. This will appear on Goodreads.
I’ll start as always by stating that this is not my first Reichs books and have enjoyed her other works. I love lush descriptions of food and locations and this books hits those notes.
Other reviewers will warn you of the trigger chapter 2. Some might say it is unnecessary for it to be so detailed. I found the event necessary to pain the mother as callous and self centered. This chapter will bother many.
I am grappling with deciding what this book is truly about. A woman with a complicated relationship with her now-dead mother is sent to Paris with no explanation. So it could be about working out why her mother did that. It could be about finding masterpiece muse Vivienne Muerent’s, who too was a fine artist, artwork, story, and why she wasn’t written into history. It could be about a father and sons strained ralationship due to the loss of a beloved mother and wife. It could be about famous fashion, about Paris itself, about fine dining, about a famous bookstore and it’s ‘tumbleweeds’, or finding a never-known relative, because all of these are richly described.
My sole problem with this book is that it’s about all of these things, which makes the narrative herky jerky, turning on its heels abruptly so each of the narratives are moved forward, leaving none behind.
Things I loved - the descriptions of Paris, the food, the genealogy hunts, the artwork and fashion.
Things that made it cumbersome - the addition of the strained relationship of Jules and his son and all of that background. I also found the discovery of Django abrupt and forced and rather unbelievable. We are getting late into the book and need to add one more narrative to get to the ending.
I liked it more than 3* but not quite a 4*, but since I can’t give it a 3.75, I’ll round up.

Having recently read The Paris Bookseller, a novel that tells the story of Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare and Company, I was especially interested to read Ruth Reichl's novel about George Whitman's second generation of that famed bookstore. This is the story of Stella who leads a humdrum life in New York as a copy editor, and who is socially frozen because of her emotionally unhealthy childhood. Her mother, who was anything but giving in any way, bequeathed Stella money to spend time in Paris, and that became a complete turning point for her. Perhaps due to serendipity she encountered people who opened her eyes to new experiences and ways to interact with the world. Her quest to locate the story and works of Victorine, the model for Manet's "Olympia," and her search for her unknown father, are made possible because of her tenacity and relationships. Reichl's background as restaurant critic, Gourmet editor in chief, and cookbook author is obvious throughout in her descriptions of Parisian cuisine and Stella's sensual response to tastes and textures of food. The glimpse into the real Shakespeare and Company store, its owner George Whitman, the Tumbleweeds, and the visiting authors like Ginsberg and Baldwin, was intriguing enough to motivate me to track down a documentary about them.

The perfect book if you love fashion, art, travel and french cuisine, it felt like a coming of age book and i think it being set in the 1980s makes this book much more charming, the characters are likeable and it was interesting to have a plot about finding a lost painting

I have enjoyed every book written by Ruth Reichl, and this one was no exception. I was excited to see another work of fiction - I absolutely loved Delicious!
Wonderful story, great descriptions of places and food. If you love food or travel, especially combined, this might be the book for you.

I absolutely loved this book so much! This will be on my must read, pre-order list for customers for 2024! I loved the story of found family and all the beautiful details! The characters and the story have stuck with me and that is the best compliment I can give a book!

Loved reading this book as I’m going to Europe next year and it got me in the mood! I don’t usually like historical books but this one was light and fun.