Honeymoon in Paris by Jojo Moyes.

                 Honeymoon in Paris by Jojo Moyes.

" I can't be this woman. It's who my mother was and it terrifies me."

This is Moyes' first collection of short stories taken from "Paris For One and Other Stories." Honeymoon in Paris is more novella than short story and satisfying to read. Two newlyweds are celebrating their lune de miel at different times, one in 2002, the other in 1912 with uncanny similarities and tensions. They are certainly love matches but is this a solid enough foundation for marriage and all the challenges that they are going to be faced with? An artist, or more specifically, a painting, links the newlyweds a century apart.

Liv Halston looks down from the iconic Eiffel Tower, alone already regretting her marriage to David who designed and built properties. She was reflecting on how disastrous her honeymoon in Paris had been. She had celebrated two days of married bliss before David had returned to work. One week of celebrations had been reduced to five days and now this. Inevitably Liv was angry. Her friends had warned her to take it slowly, reminding her of the consequences of marrying in haste. She had admitted to being hopelessly in love: "When I wake up with him I feel like I'm in the pages of some glossy magazine." Her father had been downcast at the prospect of the marriage. Her friends reminded her that she had sworn never to get married. All in all, Liv had known David for 3 months and 11 days. She soon admitted to herself that the foundations were shaky.

The Goldsteins wanted to see David's designs and it was important for David. He had been working towards this for months. He knew that if he pulled off the deal his partnership would be made, meaning his reputation. His newly married wife felt that she had been put firmly in the background and felt worried that she would end up like her mother. Liv felt just how fragile her happiness had now become: "as if it is built on shakier foundations than they had realized." A solo visit to the Muse d'Orsay helps to fill those lonely hours and she meets an attractive and charming man, Tim Freeland. It is here she sees a picture that resembles her current mood: "Wife, out of sorts." Through this observation she sees her mother's marriage and life which unsettles her and this leads to questions about why she married him.

She tells David the marriage has been a mistake and she shows him the painting, telling him of how she resembles the woman in the painting.She sees herself as horrible, needy and grumpy. The outcome is for you to discover!
Edouard Lefevre was an artist, talented but hopeless with financial matters. He had just married Sophie the little shop girl and provincial. His friends had called her that sour-faced shop girl. Sophie encouraged him to chase up his debts in the Bar Tripoli to avoid endless weeks of bread and cheese.His friends treated him with casual disregard.
"They accepted his drinks, his hospitality and gave little back."Collecting unpaid debts caused quite a scene. A brawl broke out. His friends advised Sophie to allow him certain freedoms: "he will soon return to his old ways." She is devastated to think that he will sleep with his models now that he is married.

"I could see only this thin, watchful woman whose happiness felt suddenly as if it were built on shifting sands." Just so like Liv. A long walk round the Latin Quarter after midnight and it's Laura Le Comte, a fille de rue who gives her some genuine advice, telling her that they are perfectly matched.

"Rejoice in your good fortune. be the woman he adores." Edouard was mortified at the thought of losing Sophie that he had returned to painting and it was a portrait of a mute and furious Sophie which was eventually hung in the Muse d'Orsay, the painting that unsettled Liv. Did they resolve their differences? Find out. You'll enjoy the read.

REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.


Publisher: Penguin. ISBN: 978-1-405-92816-8

COPYRIGHT 2018.Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.

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