Title: The Light of Paris
Author: Eleanor Brown
Pages: 320
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Free ARC from G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Rating: A
Note: As stated under the Source (above), I received this book for free from G.P. Putnam’s Sons in exchange for my honest review (and trust me, honest is always what you’ll get).
Review: One of the best opening pages I’ve ever read. Ever. This book whispered truth to that restless place in my soul that says “stuck is a state of mind” and “there is more when you make more” and “change doesn’t happen to the complacent” and “adventure waits around every corner, you only need seek it”. This book was what I needed right in this moment: a nudge, a reminder of my mantra in my early 20’s that the biggest obstacle in my way is always myself.
We all suffer from expectations, no matter our gender, no matter our social status, no matter what decade we live in. Expectations may change, but they are always there. The thing is, we don’t have to live up to them. We can, and should, live up to our own expectations. Is it worse to be a disappointment to our parents or to be a disappointment to ourselves? As far as I know, we only get one shot at this, and when I die, I’d like to be reveling in all that I did instead of regretting all that I didn’t.
Eleanor Brown’s The Weird Sisters has been sitting on my TBR (along with thousands of other books!) for a few years, and now that I’ve read The Light of Paris, I know what I’ve been missing. What a beautiful and eloquent storyteller! When it comes to print books, I don’t highlight or underline unless it’s for a course, but for this, I made an exception. There were so many insightful words that I wanted to go back to later and I was too impatient (didn’t want to put the book down!) to go get a pen and paper and risk losing my notes later. It really is a lovely gem of a book. A wonderful reminder of what can happen when we allow our lives to be ruled by the desires of others, and also that it’s never too late to make a path correction.
Definite must read.