-
“Paris Was the Place has the kind of
emotional weight you hope for in a novel. Its world, by turns achingly
beautiful and brutally unjust, is as vividly rendered as its characters, whose
joys and struggles we embrace as our own.”
— Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
-
“Susan Conley’s deft, moving novel is a beautiful love song, as much to
Paris as to that tipping point in life when love and loss combine and
perhaps, for the first time, both heartbroken and thrilled, you feel
acutely what it means to be fully human and alive.”
— Sarah Blake, New York Times bestselling author
-
“Conley’s debut novel is a satisfying cassoulet of questions about home, comfort, and love, served with fresh perspective on a dazzling city.”
— People
-
“We travel through rich settings (India, France, the Sonoran desert) and are confronted with dramatic events.”
— New York Times Book Review
-
“Conley writes
beautifully, compellingly, [and] with a directness and clarity that is moving
without being maudlin…[She] also evokes a vivid sense of Paris…Captivating
descriptions highlight the hallmarks and quirks of the various arrondissements
and neighborhoods with a ‘you are here’ immediacy.”
— Boston Globe
-
“Tenderhearted, earnest, and sincere…The heart of the book is the interlocking love stories, between Willie and the almost-to-good-to-be-true Macon, as well as between sister and brother, daughter and mother, and Willie and her asylum-seeking student.”
— Publishers Weekly
-
“With its Parisian setting (the author spares no details), Conley’s simple family story about a woman discovering her own strength will primarily appeal to fans of women’s fiction and Paris lovers alike.”
— Library Journal
-
“Deftly exploring the complexities of friendship, family, and
commitment, Conley adroitly demonstrates her infectious passion for Paris
through an extensive and intimate portrait of the inner workings concealed
behind its seductive façade.”
— Booklist
-
“In an affecting debut, Willow Pears learns not only to love, but also what matters when dealing with loss and problems that have no solution…The sympathetic storytelling and limpid first-person narration succeed in casting a spell.”
— Kirkus Reviews
-
“Paris Was the Place is a gorgeous love
story and a wise, intimate journal of dislocation that examines how far we’ll
go for the people we love most. I couldn’t put it down.”
— Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
-
“In Paris Was the Place Susan Conley has
created a vivid portrait of a place and a person. As Willow falls in love,
first with the girls she teaches at a detention center and then with the
immigration lawyer charged with helping them, her life becomes increasingly
complicated. The result is a suspenseful story, full of moral choices and deep
feeling. Willow is an irresistible heroine.”
— Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy and The House on Fortune Street