** THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT **
To purchase signed copies of the book, please visit HERE.
Buxton Books is excited to partner with The Charleston Library Society to host Ruth Reichl for one of the curated stops on the book tour for her latest release, The Paris Novel – an adventure of food, art, and fashion through a dazzling, heartfelt novel.
It wasn’t just Paris, but Paris past. 1983 to be exact. A Paris filled with food and art and fashion. A Paris filled with writers. A Paris where a young American could live on very little as she discovered herself. The Paris Novel is a movable feast through France in the 1980s, with stops in memorable bistros, markets, and Left Bank cafés; pieces of an evocative tale of personal discovery; and finding one’s true calling in the most delicious city in the world.
About The Paris Novel:
When her estranged mother dies, Stella is left with an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading Go to Paris. But Stella is hardly cut out for adventure; a childhood trauma has kept her confined to the strict routines of her comfort zone. When her boss encourages her to take time off, Stella resigns herself to honoring her mother’s last wishes.
Alone in a foreign city, Stella falls into old habits, living cautiously and frugally. Then she stumbles across a vintage store where she tries on a fabulous Dior dress. The shopkeeper insists that this dress was meant for Stella and, for the first time in her life, Stella does something impulsive. She buys the dress and together they embark on an adventure. Her first stop: iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots, where Stella tastes her first oysters, and then meets an octogenarian art collector who decides to take her under his wing. As Jules introduces her to a veritable who’s who of the 1980s Paris literary, art, and culinary worlds, Stella begins to understand what it might mean to live a larger life. As weeks—and many decadent meals—go by, Stella ends up living as a “tumbleweed” at famed bookstore Shakespeare & Company, uncovers a hundred-year-old mystery in a Manet painting, and discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past. A feast for the senses, this novel is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home.
About the author:
Ruth Reichl is the New York Times bestselling author of five memoirs, the novel Delicious!, and the cookbook My Kitchen Year. She was editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, and previously served as restaurant critic for The New York Times, as well as food editor and restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. She has been honored with six James Beard Awards.