Luanne Rice - Secrets of Paris: A Novel

PRAISE FOR SECRETS OF PARIS

Rice is clearly smart, sophisticated and well-traveled. Youre likely to recognize the many French idioms or gestures that Rice retails with wry affection. Characters with heart; colorful vignettes from the life of Mme. de Svign, whose letters are excerpted at the start of each chapter; and glimpses of French neighborhoods that tourists often miss on the way to the Mona Lisa, such as Tolbiac, the Chinatown of Paris. Not just for Francophiles, this is a thinking sunbathers beach book.

The Plain Dealer

Rice has a flair for creating bright, compelling characters. Were drawn to them.

Kirkus Reviews

Passion and friendship get equal billing in this entertaining love story, shaded with dark undertones, from the author of Crazy in Love. Lively and appealing characters the Paris setting and themes of betrayal and forgiveness distinguish this spirited romance.

Publishers Weekly

A romantic and satisfying account of love revived.

Booklist

Light, airy, rich and tasty, Luanne Rices Secrets of Paris is like a souffl. It also has warmth, charm, wisdom and a great deal of heart.

San Francisco Chronicle

Once again Rice weaves a tale of modern-day life thats hard to put down. A novel of friendship, love, and betrayal that lets you into the minds of all the participants. It is one of those books that you dont want to end because you want to know what happens to all of the people in it. Highly recommended.

Library Journal

MORE CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR LUANNE RICE

A rare combination of realism and romance.

The New York Times Book Review

Luanne Rice proves herself a nimble virtuoso.

The Washington Post Book World

Few writers evoke summers translucent days so effortlessly, or better capture the bittersweet ties of family love.

Publishers Weekly

Ms. Rice shares Anne Tylers ability to portray offbeat, fey characters winningly.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rice has an elegant style, a sharp eye, and a real warmth. In her hands, families, and their values seem worth cherishing.

San Francisco Chronicle

Luanne Rice has enticed millions of readers by enveloping them in stories that are wrapped in the hot, sultry weather of summer. She does it so well.

USA Today

What a lovely writer Luanne Rice is.

D OMINICK D UNNE

[Luanne Rices] characters break readers hearts. True-to-life characters dealing with real issuespeople following journeys that will either break them or heal them.

The Columbus Dispatch

A joy to read.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Addictive irresistible.

People

Rice writes as naturally as she breathes.

B RENDAN G ILL

Luanne Rice has a talent for navigating the emotions that range through familial bonds, from love and respect to anger. A beautiful blend of love and humor, with a little bit of magic thrown in.

The Denver Post

Brilliant.

Entertainment Weekly

Exciting, emotional, terrific. What more could you want?

The New York Times Book Review

Rice makes us believe that healing is possible.

Chicago Tribune

Good domestic drama is Rices chosen field, and she knows every acre of it. Rices home fires burn brighter than most, and leave more than a few smoldering moments to remember.

Kirkus Reviews

Rice masterfully weaves together a batch of sympathetic characters into a rich and vivid tapestry, all while exploring complex human emotions and the healing power of love.

The Flint Journal

Book after book, Rice never fails to deliver a beautiful tale full of emotion. [She] speaks to the reader of magic, miracles and pursuing your dreams, no matter what the cost.

BestReviews.com

Rice excels at weaving the familiar staples of popular fiction into storytelling gold; her talent for portraying both children at risk and good men scarred by circumstance also dazzles. [She] depicts the magical endurance of love with the sensitivity and realism for which shes known.

Publishers Weekly

Rice is a gifted storyteller with a keen sense of both the possibilities and contingencies of life.

Brunswick Times Record

Rices great strength is in creating realistic characters readers care about.

The Denver Post

Few authors are able to portray the complex and contradictory emotions that bind family members as effortlessly as Rice.

Publishers Weekly

Full of all the things families are made of: love, secrets, traditions, and memories.

The Providence Journal

Luanne Rice handles with marvelous insight and sensitivity the complex chemistry of a family that might be the one next door.

E ILEEN G OUDGE

Rice, a terrific storyteller and a poetic stylist, takes on a difficult and brutal subject and transforms it into a source of light and hope.

Booklist

Irresistible fast-paced moving vivid storytelling. Readers can almost smell the sea air. Rice has a gift for creating realistic characters, and the pages fly by as those characters explore the bonds of family.

Orlando Sentinel

What the author does best: heartfelt family drama, gracefully written and poignant.

Kirkus Reviews

Rice, always skilled at drafting complex stories reveals her special strength in character development.

The Star-Ledger

Rices ability to evoke the lyricism of the seaside lifestyle without oversentimentalizing contemporary issues is just one of many gifts that make a perfect summer read.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Rice, as always, provides her readers with a delightful love story filled with the subtle nuances of the human heart.

Booklist

Luanne Rice touches the deepest, most tender corners of the heart.

T AMI H OAG

Pure gold.

Library Journal

BY LUANNE RICE

The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners The Geometry of Sisters
Last Kiss Light of the Moon What Matters Most
The Edge of Winter Sandcastles Summer of Roses
Summers Child Silver Bells Beach Girls Dance With Me
The Perfect Summer The Secret Hour True Blue
Safe Harbor Summer Light Firefly Beach
Dream Country Follow the Stars Home Cloud Nine
Home Fires Blue Moon Secrets of Paris
Stone Heart Crazy in Love Angels All Over Town

with Joseph Monninger
The Letters

Secrets of Paris is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

2011 Bantam Books Trade Paperback Edition

Copyright 1991 by Luanne Rice

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of The Random House
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

BANTAM BOOKS and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.

Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Viking Penguin, a division of
Penguin Books USA Inc., in 1991.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following