"Booklist"(starred review) A timeless tale. "The New York Times" "A post-American Dream tale."Jose Manuel Simian, "New York Daily News" Remarkable, razor-sharp.A compassionate read. But by the time you get there, you may already be hooked and feeling weepy for these two young lovers. fresh language leads us right into the middle of yet another love story in Paris, and a star-crossed one to boot. But early on Patricia Engelshows that her writing can still be original. The heart this story breaks, might be your own."Roxanne Gay, "The Nation" Like any word whose shimmer has dulled from overuse, Paris can seem like a cliche in itself. She knows how to drown the reader in a sense of enchantment She writes exquisite moments The power of this excellent novel is in how Engel holds us in her thrall as she complicates where Lita is going and what she will leave behind. Benjamin Saenz, "The New York Times Book Review" "Spare prose laced with nuggets of genuine is a testament to large talent that the story culminates with an emotional force that is both surprising and deeply affecting."Thomas Chatterton Williams, "San Francisco Chronicle" Absorbing intimate in scope, erotic and, by the end, entirely unexpected. Through Lita, she speaks a profound language of young love and desire.Engel s considerable gifts are on display here. Engel, whose first book was the acclaimed story collection "Vida," has uncanny insight into the human condition. My copy of "It's Not Love, It's Just Paris" is all marked up. We rediscover a modern and eclectic Paris in Patricia Engel's astonishing first novel, a story as grand and dazzling as its setting, yet as intimate and powerful as a love story that just won t quit." Edwidge Danticat Wise and accomplished.Beautifully written and executed.There are at least two ways to judge a novel: by how fast you turn the pages or by how many times you have to stop to underline a passage. "Engel has a knack for showing how Paris's charms are both real and always verging on cliche."-"Publishers Weekly" PRAISE FOR IT'S NOT LOVE, IT'S JUST PARIS: "'We'll always have Paris, ' lovers of this glorious city have been saying this to each other ever since Humphrey Bogart uttered those words in Casablanca. Beautifully written.” - The New York Times Book Review From the author of Vida, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris is a love story, a portrait of a Paris caught between the old world and the new, and an exploration of one woman’s journey to lay claim to her own life. Ultimately Lita must decide whether to stay in France with Cato or return home to fulfill her family’s dreams for her future. As Cato and Lita retreat to their own world, they soon find it difficult to keep the outside world from closing in on theirs. Charming, enigmatic, and weak with illness, Cato is the son of a notorious right-wing politician. Then Lita meets Cato, and the contours of her world shift. Cautious and guarded, Lita keeps a cool distance from the other girls, who seem at once boldly adult and impulsively naïve, who both intimidate and fascinate her. She moves into a crumbling Left Bank mansion known as “The House of Stars,” where the spirited but bedridden Countess Séraphine rents out rooms to young women visiting Paris to work, to study, and, unofficially, to find love. Now Lita has been granted one year to pursue her studies in Paris before returning to work in the family business. A spellbinding story of a young American abroad and a star-crossed relationship: “This is a novel to get lost in.” - The Miami Herald Lita del Cielo is the daughter of two Colombian immigrants who arrived in America with nothing and made a fortune with their Latin food empire.
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