Book: The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Coglan
I picked this up from Brewsmiths café, on its last day of opening and the day after the Paris attacks on 13th November 2015.The café would sell donated books to raise funds for charity so I selected a few and this seemed an obvious choice, despite it being unfamiliar. It is the only time I have bought books from Brewsmiths although I have donated a fair few. Where will mine all go now?I’ve also recommended books to random strangers in there. Although no-one was really a stranger in this, our Jewellery Quarter community café that I have missed dearly ever since. I did buy a few bits of furniture and furnishings before it finally shut so a little piece of Brewsmiths will forever be in my home and in my heart.The novel is similarly nostalgic, as it tells us the life of a Reverend’s daughter going to Paris for the summer and coming back a woman. And later, more prominently, of her former pupil, now a thirty something singleton who is in need of an adventure.As Anna worked in chocolate until her accident, her former teacher, Claire who she re-met in hospital, suggests she looks up an old friend in Paris and goes to work in the loveliest chocolate shop in Paris for a while and see what happens. (A lot).Similarly, Anna has nothing to lose back home, will she too change forever as Paris open her world on her big solo adventure?While I may never have picked this up otherwise – it is a little bit twee for me at the end – it is highly readable and I'll certainly consider another from the same author.7½/10