NEW RELEASE
The Secret Paris Cinema Club - Nicolas Barreau
The Cinema Paradis is everything that its owner Alain Bonnard is: unassuming, nostalgic, sincere and romantic. For Alain this small cinema that shuns the populist and homogenous in favour of beauty and art is a magical place. And when the woman in the red coat starts turning up week after week, it becomes also the place of Alain's romantic hopes. When he finally musters the courage to invite her out, the result is nothing short of perfect for both of them. And they go their separate ways at the end of the night with the promise that Melanie will return to next week's screening at the cinema. Things get even better for Alain when a film producer and star actress arrive wanting to use his cinema in their latest film. It seems everything is falling into place, but when Melanie fails to keep their date, Alain is thrown into turmoil. A quirky little read, this novel is full of French charm and style. Although the plot is somewhat meandering and curious, with coincidence after coincidence, at its heart it is a proper romance. The writing has the urbanity and composure one would expect from French literature rather than the frantic, overexuberant tenor of chick lit and everything about this quaint novel captures its singularity. It's not a typical read and perhaps too idiosyncratic but escapist and curious certainly. (JC)
