French Lessons, Ellen Sussman
French Lessons, Ellen Sussman
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French Lessons

Author: Ellen Sussman

Narrator: Kathe Mazur

Unabridged: 7 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/05/2011

Synopsis

A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a French tutor, learning about language, love, and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways.

Josie, Riley, and Jeremy have come to the City of Light for different reasons: Josie, a young high school teacher, arrives in hopes of healing a broken heart. Riley, a spirited but lonely expat housewife, struggles to feel connected to her husband and her new country. And Jeremy, the reserved husband of a renowned actress, is accompanying his wife on a film shoot, yet he feels distant from her world.

As they meet with their tutors—Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet; Riley with Phillippe, a shameless flirt; and Jeremy with the consummately beautiful Chantal—each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. Yet as they traverse Paris’s grand boulevards and intimate, winding streets, they uncover surprising secrets about one another—and come to understand long-buried truths about themselves.

About The Author

Ellen Sussman is the author of the novel On a Night Like This. She lived in Paris for five years and now lives with her husband in Northern California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jane on November 23, 2014

I would not have bought this if I had known it was four short stories. I prefer to avoid short stories. None of the stories are complete. At the end of the three American stories, my feelings were: 1. empty. 2. I’m left hanging. 3. I feel like what’s the point. There was a nice end for the tutors, bu......more

Goodreads review by Donna on June 27, 2011

This is a 1.5 star book, I didn't actually HATE it, so I had to go with two. What the hell? As with many of the reviewers I read, I had high hopes for this novel about three tutors individually taking their students out for a day in Paris. How could that possibly be boring?! But these are not charac......more

Goodreads review by Bree on July 17, 2011

www.breesabookworm.com Well...I don't really know where to begin with this one. There's three different stories in one. The beginning starts off with three french tutors in Paris who are about to embark on a day of work. These three tutors are involved in a love triangle. After this is established t......more

Goodreads review by Erin on March 21, 2011

It begins by introducing three young, sexy Parisians who work at the same language school and provide private tutoring for emotionally unstable Americans. Or Americans who become emotionally unstable after spending a couple hours with their young, sexy French tutors. Anyway, it then breaks up into t......more

Goodreads review by Katherine on August 02, 2012

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman C’est l’amour A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a different French tutor, learning about language, love, and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways. Ellen Sussman’s novel French Lessons is......more

Quotes

“[A] luscious novel of love and longing . . . the narrative feelslight as a glass of rosé at an outdoor café, but its insightscarry the richness of a Burgundy.” —People  (four stars)
 
“[A] sexy travelogue . . . sizzling escapist reading.”—Entertainment Weekly

“As inviting as the smell of freshly baked croissants wafting from a Parisian café, this is a novel to savor.”—Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier

“Touching, thoughtful, hilarious, and exquisite in its observations, French Lessons—Ellen Sussman’s day in Paris with a wonderful collection of characters—is a treat. . . . Très charmant!”—Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Four Ms. Bradwells

“Charming, romantic, and brimming with Sussman’s trademark joie de vivre, French Lessons is a novel to savor.”—Amanda Eyre Ward, author of Close Your Eyes

"What a delicious read! With sexual tension that crackles on the page, I truly couldn't put down this literary page-turner. Book clubs: bust out your calendars. This novel's going on your list."  --Lolly Winston, author of Good Grief
 
"Elegant and evocative...Sussman has created wonderful characters who take us through the city as they discover hidden places, including those in their own hearts."  --Luanne Rice
 
"In French Lessons, Ellen Sussman has created an erotic, emotionally charged novel spanning two continents.  The intriguing cast of characters, whose lives are intertwined by a common love for the world's most beautiful language, make delicious reading from the first page to the last."  -- Michelle Richmond

“[An] evocative escape to the City of Love.” --Kirkus
 
“Three Americans explore Paris alongside their attractive French tutors and find themselves caught up in a delightful day of desire in Sussman's second novel… Sussman keeps things fresh with a strong supporting cast and some unexpected insights into the characters' pasts, embracing a soupçon of mystery to go with the scenic strolls and flights of passion.” – Publishers Weekly

"My favorite novels succeed in delivering life's best pleasures: making a new friend (the unexpected delight in encountering a sensibility both sly and sweet), being handed a surprise vacation (the joy of an exotic and stunning landscape), and, most exciting of all, finding oneself in the thrall of an intoxicating flirtation.  French Lessons is just such a book."  -- Antonya Nelson

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