La femme au carnet rouge

by Antoine Laurain

Un soir à Paris, une jeune femme se fait agresser devant son immeuble. À son grand désespoir, le voleur s'enfuit avec son sac à main – autant dire une part d'elle-même qu'elle pense alors à jamais perdue. C'est compter sans Laurent Letellier, sympathique libraire qui découvre le sac abandonné dans la rue. S'il ne contient plus ni portable, ni papiers d'identité, il recèle encore une foule de menus objets qui livrent autant d'indices sur la personnalité de leur propriétaire : pince à cheveux, photos, notes, ou encore un flacon de parfum dont les effluves matérialisent l'inconnue à laquelle se prend à rêver notre héros. Désireux de la retrouver, il s'improvise détective, guidé tantôt par un ticket de pressing, tantôt par un roman dédicacé de Patrick Modiano… À mesure que Laurent déchiffre le carnet rouge contenant les pensées les plus secrètes de Laure et pénètre dans son univers, le jeu de piste romanesque se mue en une quête amoureuse qui va bouleverser la vie de l'un comme de l'autre. Orchestrant avec humour hasards, coïncidences et retournements de situation, Antoine Laurain signe une délicieuse comédie romantique qui rend hommage au besoin de merveilleux sommeillant en chacun de nous.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, France, Contemporary, Book Club, Books About Books, Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2014

About the author

Antoine Laurain (born 1972) is a French author. He previously worked as a screenwriter and antiques dealer.

His first novel "The Portrait" was published in 2007 and he achieved wide international acclaim with "The Red Notebook". Since then his works have been translated into 14 languages and partly made into films.

Reviews

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Can you experience nostalgia for something that hasn’t happened? We talk of ‘regrets’ about the course of our lives, when we are almost certain we have taken the wrong decision; but one can also be enveloped in a sweet and mysterious euphoria, a sort of nostalgia for what might have been.”

The story begins with a late-night mugging that eventually lands the victim, Laure Valadier, a gilder by profession, in the hospital. Bookstore owner Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on his routine coffee run, discarded on top of a garbage bin. Upon searching through the contents he finds a cornucopia of items (not surprising since most of us ladies carry our own little universe in our bags) but nothing indicating the identity or contact details of the owner. Among the contents, he does find a red moleskin notebook, a dry cleaners receipt, a key ring and a signed copy of a Patrick Modiano novel (I felt a bit jealous here!). The story follows Laurent as he tries to track down the owner based on whatever clues he can piece together from the contents of the handbag - an experience that impacts both his and Laure’s lives in the best ways one can imagine (notwithstanding a few minor hiccups along the way!).

Elegant prose, endearing characters, books, bookstores, literary references and Paris – what a perfect combination! Antoine Laurain’s The Red Notebook (translated by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce) is an utterly charming and delightful story! I had been meaning to read this book for a long time and am glad that I finally picked it up! A short uplifting novel that you can easily finish in one sitting – best enjoyed with your beverage of choice ( for me it was a few cups of steaming hot cinnamon spice tea and some chocolate)! I can’t wait to read more of this author’s work!

[Nat K · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'adore! Sometimes you need to read a love story. And to believe that good things can happen to good people. This is told with such beautiful simplicity. It is gentle and caresses you, like a soft cashmere sweater.

In a city of millions, are two souls destined to meet? I'm sure you've already guessed the answer to that. It's a tried and true formula. One that can either be ordinary or can lift your spirits. This is the latter.

With Parisian charm, what starts with the petty crime of a bag snatching, results in bringing two people together. Laure is the victim of this crime. Arriving home after a night out to dinner with friends, she doesn't even make it to her front door, when a hand reaches out of the darkness, and her bag is stolen.

"It would be streets away by now, snatched, flying on the man's arm as he ran; he would open it and inside he would find her keys, her identity card, her memories. Her entire life...Her hands could not seem to stop shaking from fear, helplessness and anger."

Laurent is the owner of bookstore. In search of his morning coffee at the local cafe, he finds an obviously abandoned handbag sitting on top of a bin, sans owner.

Being a good citizen, he drops it off at the local cop shop. With the police being too busy to attend to him, Laurent takes the mystery bag home. Determined to do his own detective work, with the intention of re-uniting the bag with its rightful owner, he opens the bag...

"He drank some more wine, feeling he was about to commit a forbidden act. A transgression. For a man should never go through a woman's handbag - even the most remote tribe would adhere to that ancestral rule."

Amongst other things, Laurent finds a red Moleskin notebook, filled with the innermost thoughts and jottings of the handbag's owner. Not meant for stranger's eyes. And we all have a red notebook somewhere, don't we.

"The handwriting was elegant and fluid... Laurent was fascinated by her reflections which followed on one from the other, random, touching, zany, sensual. He had opened a door into the soul of the woman with the mauve bag...even though he felt what he was doing was inappropriate, he couldn't stop himself from reading on."

What's not to love about a book featuring more books in it. And people who love books. In the city of love. Sigh.

There are some will they/won't they meet moments that made me catch my breath with how charming the writing is.

"Can you experience nostalgia for something that hasn't happened? We talk of 'regrets' about the course of our lives. When we are almost certain we have taken the wrong decision; but one can also be enveloped in a sweet and mysterious euphoria, a sort of nostalgia for what might have been."

"Like catching snatches of a far-off radio frequency. The message is obscure, yet by listening carefully you can still catch snippets of the life that never was. You hear sentences that never were actually said, you hear footsteps echoing in places you've never been to, you can make out the surf on a beach whose sand you have never touched. You hear the laughter and loving words of a woman though nothing ever happened between you."

Adore, adore, adore. Yes, there is a happy ending. And this is as it should be 💗

Antoine Laurain is utterly delightful. I'm so pleased I bought a bunch of his books some time ago. They were just waiting for the right time for me to start reading them. This is the first of many journeys I'll have with him.

*** Buddy read with the wonderful, talented Mr.Neale-ski. A change of pace and genre for us. One which I'm happy say he also enjoyed - phew! Make sure you check out his fab review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ***

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

On his customary morning walk to procure his morning coffee, Laurent Letellier finds an expensive handbag atop a trash barrel. Being of high moral character, he takes it to the police station where he realizes the bag will succumb to massive bureaucracy and become eternally lost. He leaves it at his home before he goes to work and ponders the best course of action. Thus begins Antoine Laurain’s delightful novel: what would you do if you found an abandoned handbag? How far would you go to try and find the rightful owner?

Curiosity gets the best of Laurent and he sifts through the contents of the bag. As the name of the novel implies, the handbag contains a red notebook amongst other interesting items. This tiny novel (159 pages) tells the captivating journey of a man seeking a mysterious woman. It’s an intelligent romantic story of a man who finds a woman fascinating based upon her musings written in her red notebook, along with the interesting contents of her bag. (Could a man become fascinated in you based upon the contents of your bag?) I do adore French movies and French literature. Some producer needs to get their hands on this fine novel.

This is a wonderful story and deserves more press. I highly recommend reading it.

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being some one with a rather cynical attitude to the whole idea of love and romance, I found my icy heart delightfully thawed by this book. It is poignant, touching, peppered with literary references, witty and quite simply perfect...A must read- even for old cynics like me!

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s interesting that the title of this little French novel is THE RED NOTEBOOK. It’s really, after all, a book about a mauve purse.

Funny, that a male author should choose to write a story centered around a purse. (Or, maybe it would be more accurate to describe him as choosing to write a story about the contents of a purse and, ultimately, its owner).

For a man should never go through a woman’s handbag—even the most remote tribe would adhere to that ancestral rule. Husbands in loincloths definitely did not have the right to go and look for a poisoned arrow or a root to eat in their wives’ rawhide bags.

A woman’s purse is sacrosanct territory. I’ve got three kids, and not one of them would be foolhardy enough to go probing through my handbag. They’re smart enough to know that I’d immediately remove it from their hands, and with eyebrows arched, inquire, “What is it you think you need?”

The woman from this story, Laure, doesn’t want any man going through her purse, either, but she is, unfortunately, mugged at the novel’s beginning, and her designer handbag is purged of its credit cards and obvious (to a thief) value, and is left on a dumpster.

Enter Laurent, a fortysomething bookstore owner (former investment banker, so we can check off the boxes that all bookish ladies who read this are thinking ooh la la--he loves books and he knows how to make money), who comes along the next morning, after poor Laure’s violent altercation with a robber, and finds her abandoned purse near his store.

Here’s where the story gets a little weird. For some reason, one that makes no real sense, this normal man, Laurent, goes to the police station to turn in the bag yet is told by police that he’ll need to wait for hours before someone can get to him. He leaves, and never returns. Basically: he keeps the purse.

And, in a scene I found highly amusing, Laurent goes through each item of this purse, with a silent reverence. This is a stranger’s purse, one that he found in an alley on a dumpster, and yet everything in it is perfect.

I wish I could include a picture of my purse that is on a chair, next to me, at the moment. It’s black, has a huge scratch down the front, the bottom is lined with squashed receipts, a dusty tissue, an epipen, a regular pen, a new wallet that broke the first week I bought it, and a stuffed little make-up bag that is currently filled with 7 lipsticks/lip glosses and a pretty mirror that I once bought in China. (Oh, and keys and my phone, which I dropped on a rock two weeks ago and now has shattered glass and tape on it).

I can only imagine that if a man found my purse right now and burrowed through it, he’d assume I was a hot mess, and he’d be just about right.

But, Laure. . . well, Laure’s just too damned sophisticated to have even so much as a single tampon in her bag. (Note to Antoine Laurain: no woman in her early 40s doesn’t have at least one tampon, pad or panty liner in her bag, and seriously, not even a single tissue in there with some blotted lipstick on it?? Come on!)

This has all reminded me of two very funny stand-up comedy bits. The first one is with Joan Rivers (seriously, look it up, it’s hilarious), where she is advising women who have gone through menopause to make sure they always keep at least one tampon in their purse. She recommends taking the tampon out of the purse, several times, throughout a meal with a man, and, if needed, dip it in ketchup and swing it around a few times like a lasso. Meaning: men, even in their 60s, 70s and 80s think that their romantic partners should still be menstruating and capable of making babies. Give up the ghost, y’all, and how about working on that beer gut of yours instead of demanding our perpetual youth?

Anyway, the other comedy bit is from a man (I want to say Ray Romano or Kevin James, but it’s escaping me at the moment), where the comedian makes the observation that his wife never wears the “pretty panties” anymore, the ones she wore when they were first dating, and that now everything she has is ripped or stained. Reality bites, doesn’t it?

The truth is, there’s almost ZERO reality in this story. The woman is idealized to a ridiculous degree; the male lead needs to be nothing more than “fairly tall, slim” and capable of making a good income. The reader is asked to overlook glaring plot points throughout the story (don’t even get me started on the medical inaccuracies from the hospital scenes!).

And yet. . . as the quote declares, at the start of the story: There is little but the sublime to help us through the ordinary in life. --Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier).

I don’t think this little novel was trying to be THE GRAPES OF WRATH. It was a pre-pandemic offering, and there’s some delicious escapism here, for sure.

Also, some great lines, like this one: I’ve always liked men who can go from looking serious to warm in the space of a few seconds.

Poor Laurent. I wonder if he’ll ever find where Laure keeps all of her crumpled receipts and feminine products? (Not even a single dirty dish in her sink, when she wasn’t even expecting company! Who can compete with such perfection?!)

3.5, rounded up

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4★


Jim Nelson at Food & Wine writes that "An apéritif is an alcoholic beverage served before a meal to stimulate the appetite without overwhelming the senses and distinct from anything you have been served back home. It is light and refraissant as the French would say."

How perfectly that describes this little gem. At just 159 generously spaced pages, you can read it in one sitting.
There is lovely Laure. She is an artist, a gilder. She has been mugged and her bag stolen. There are items inside that are precious to her.
There is Laurent. He is the owner of a small bookstore “hopelessly old-fashioned, still believing in the chance encounter, the smile exchanged across a café terrace, or the book that led on to something else." He has found the bag and wants to return it. He will have to work at it because there is no identification inside. Just a small red notebook, a diary of Laure's secret self. Her identity apart from her name. Laurent reads it looking for clues. Now it's about more than just returning the bag.

I couldn’t help but think a bit of the Sandra Bullock movie While You Were Sleeping as I read this. But this is so typically European, so very French. From an American vantage, distinct from anything I would find here. Refreshing after a long book and now I'm ready for the next. Á votre santé!

[Camie · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be filed under charming little books translated from French. When Laurent the owner of a bookstore in Paris finds a handbag abandoned in a trash bin his life changes forever. Certainly no woman ever abandons a lovely pocketbook. With only the clues given in the bag's contents which includes a small red notebook of random thoughts can he ever find it's owner ?
Short, sweet, and surely soon to be film material.
KUYH Club June - 4 stars

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you carry in your handbag? Are the items intriguing enough to make someone want to meet you, even if they only saw the contents of your bag and knew nothing else about you?

This charming, romantic, and oh, so French, book hit the right spot after a few enjoyable (but heavy) reads. In this tale, sophisticated Parisian Laure is mugged after a late night out. Her attacker runs off with her handbag. The next morning, book store owner Laurent finds Laure's bag (minus her wallet and any ID) on top of a trash can, and realizes that the purse is not intended to be thrown away. After unsuccessfully trying to turn the bag into the police, Laurent goes through the contents of the bag trying to determine its rightful owner, and begins his quest to find her.

While not quite as whimsical as The President's Hat, "The Red Notebook" was thoroughly enjoyable. It's a short little book which can be ready in a day or two -- perfect for the beach or when you just want a "pick me up" or "palate cleanser" after a heavier book.

Even in its brevity the story will transport you right to Paris with its descriptions of Parisian neighborhoods, cafes, book shops, and lines such as this: "Their eyes had met for that fraction of a second during which, without saying a word, a man and a woman who don't know each other signal that the night is not yet over."

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallic Books for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Srivalli (Semi-Hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

One Liner: Interesting!

Bookseller Laurent Letellier finds an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. He picks it up, intending to return it to its owner. However, the bag has no contact information, except for a little red notebook where the owner wrote her thoughts. As Laurent reads the book, he feels connected with her and wants to meet her. But he knows neither her name nor her address. Can he find the owner of the red notebook in the large city?

The story comes in the third-person POVs of multiple characters.

My Thoughts:

This is the English translation of a French novella. The setting is the beautiful Paris with its cafes, bookstores, and lovely streets, which aren’t devoid of dark elements like thieves.

The book starts with a graphic mugging incident. If this is a trigger, skim through the first two pages. The rest is fine.

Though this is a kind of romance, it is not your typical one. I’d rather call it general fiction with a sprinkling of rom.

Considering the premise of the MMC trying to find the bag’s owner, the book veers into stalking territory at times. That cannot be avoided. However, the author handles it with care and doesn’t make the reader feel uncomfortable. The MMC is aware of how his actions might seem and does his best not to act like a creep. It helps that he is not a bad guy.

The POV mostly jumps between the FMC and MMC, though we also get a few scenes from other characters. I wish the ARC were better formatted since these changes occur even in the middle of a paragraph, which is confusing and annoying.

I don’t want to reveal more since this story is best enjoyed without prior knowledge. Go where the book leads you! It’ll be an entertaining ride!

We also meet two cats and a couple of authors. There are a few discussions about writing and books, too!

The book ends on a hopeful note. It is a happy ending, of course, but the slice-of-life kind. I like how everything gets rounded up.

To summarize, The Red Notebook is a short yet sweet, poignant, and heartwarming story. It touches upon various themes and ends on a positive note.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pushkin Press, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

#NetGalley #TheRedNotebook

[Rojita Rojîta · Rating 4 out of 5]

بیشتر از اون که یک کتاب قوی باشه، کتابی بود که به من حس خوبی داد
عاشق شخصیت کلوئه شدم😊
بعد از خواندن این کتاب، دوباره و چندباره احساس کردم عمرم داره هدر میره چون کتابفروش نیستم

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

ی دفترچه ی قرمز با چند دلنوشته ی پراکنده، تعدادی وسیله ی شخصی و محبوب که توی ی کیف همیشه همراه صاحبشه، میتونه سرنخ هایی برای شناخت شخصیت اون ادم به ی غریبه بده که شاید حتی نزدیکترین آشناها هم ازش غافل باشن...
عاشقانه ای فانتزی که احتمال پیش اومدنش توی دنیای واقعی تک رقمیه اما داستانش با همه ی صورتی بودنش کسل کننده نیست، گاهی جادوی کتاب همینه که بتونه ما رو از واقعیت نه چندان دلچسب زندگی دور کنه و این کتاب با سادگی و روانی قشنگی این نقش رو بازی میکنه...

[Nancy •͙͙✧⃝•͙͙✩ͯ {Comment restriction} · Rating 2 out of 5]

──⟡⋆˙✩ 2 stars ✩ ⋆˙⟡──

“How was it so easy to disappear from someone else’s life? Perhaps it was with the same ease that you enter it.”

If boring was a book~

A man finds a handbag and, since he has nothing better to do with his life, he decides to track down the owner and return it.

Naturally, he also rifles through the handbag (as you do), finds her diary, and starts reading it. The more he reads, the more intrigued he becomes by this mystery woman.

Sounds like it could be great. (A little creepy, sure—but still intriguing.)

But no. It was so boring. I was rushing to finish it. Thankfully it’s short—any longer and I might not have made it.

It did have a few redeeming moments, like his interactions with his teenage daughter, Chloe. She’s an absolute menace—and I mean that in the most loving way.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. All thoughts are my own.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightfully charming and whimsical tale, whose movie rights have already been sold to Union Générale Cinématographique (UCG). The translation of this French novel transported me to the streets of Paris, where Laurent Leteillier, bookseller and owner of bookstore, Le Cahier Rouge (The Red Notebook) has found a purse on the top of a garbage bin. Laurent is definitely a character I want to know more about. His capacity for laughing at himself, the fact that he’s taught his sixteen-year-old daughter, Chloé how to swirl her wine, appreciating its delicate aroma before taking a sip, that he introduced Chloé to literature from an early age, and the energy that he will give to the task of returning the purse to its owner; I know right away that Laurent is a romantic, but not hopeless at all (perhaps even his ex-wife would agree); he has his feet firmly planted in everyday life.

Laure Valadier is a gilder by trade, applying gold leaf to books, picture frames, glass, stone, metal, and many other surfaces. She has a cat named Belphégor, and on her bookshelves, a book by Sophie Calle, Suite Vénitienne (‘Please Follow Me’), the author's defining work, a book in which she surreptitiously follows and photographs strange men. Just as Calle explores the meanings of boundaries and surveillance, those themes will resonate in this narrative. Laure’s adventures of the lost purse are compelling, especially with the twist of Antoine Laurain’s French irony as our accompaniment.

So settle in with a chill glass of Pouilly-Fuissé with its hints of buttery hazelnuts, or perhaps, an exuberant Beaujolais Nouveau, and enjoy a stroll down la rue de la nostalgie in search of that which might have been or more perfectly, that which almost wasn’t. Enjoy!

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

2015 F.A.B. Bookclub pick # I.❤️. F.A.B.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm jumping with joy and exhilaration having just finished a charming and very delightful novel. Exactly what I was after! A perfect Sunday afternoon companion. Well, a perfect companion, regardless of the day of the week or season.

I loved everything about the Red Notebook. The writing is simple but has a beautiful flow. The main characters, Laurent and Laure, are well drawn and interesting. It was refreshing to read a romantic book with middle-aged protagonists. The plot was lovely and romantic, in a realistic way.

As you can imagine, since the male protagonist owns a bookshop, books and authors make an appearance. C'est incroyable! No mention of any of the Bronte sisters or Jane Austen novels, or the Great Gatsby or the Catcher in the Rye. I'll drink to that! In case you're wondering, I do not have anything against the above authors or novels, I've read and enjoyed them all, I am just tired of seeing them mentioned in so many novels. Thanks to Antoine Laurain, many known and less known French authors are mentioned. I've added a few more books to my ever growing to-be-read list.

The Red Notebook is not a literary masterpiece, but it's well written and has a huge dose of French charm. It would make for a great script for a cute chick-flick (preferably in French).

I'll be making sure to read Antoine Laurain's other novel.

If you're after something light and romantic, but not stupid, sweet but not saccharin(ny), the Red Notebook is the perfect novel.

I've received this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publishers, Gallic Books, for the opportunity to read and review this charming novel.

Cover:5 stars

[Alejandra Restrepo B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que buena lectura he tenido!

El número de páginas adecuado y un estilo delicioso con la elegancia y los detalles sutiles que usan los franceses para enamorar al lector.
La historia es muy fluida y tiene unos giros inesperados que la hacen más emocionante aún, el hecho de que el protagonista sea un librero y haga alusión a otros libros y autores me encanta...me antoja.
La historia de Laure y Laurent me ha cautivado completamente, otro libro francés que me recuerda a Amélie...y esto para mi es positivo porque amo esa película.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written, repulsive little book masquerading as a romance.

This is insidious propaganda for the patriarchy and that people see it as romantic is deeply disturbing.

It begins with a mugging and a man finding the stolen, discarded bag in the street minus wallet and phone. That this man could not easily turn this over to the police is a plot device that simply does not work. Instead, under the guise of finding the name of the owner of the bag, he takes it back to his apartment and rifles through its contents, spraying the perfume into the air and begins reading the red notebook in the bag, the bag's owner's private jottings. Okay, maybe I can follow that train of thought (not the perfume though), but then it just gets creepy.

Laurain wants us to think that a man can fall in love with a woman from the contents of her handbag, a secret place that most men are not allowed to enter. A SECRET PLACE. Hello? When he is not successful at finding her name he follows other clues.

This obsession becomes an invasion of her privacy and her apartment. When he deletes a phone message from her current, estranged boyfriend I became enraged.

It is no accident that Laurain has put the female in this book in a coma, she can't speak or protect herself from this parasite feeding on her privacy and autonomy. An apt metaphor for a patriarchal system that would want a woman pliant and unable to stop men from taking liberties with their possessions and life without permission. All of this obsession and bad behaviour is excused by the author by his writing his male protagonist as having "good intentions".

That Laure awakens and thinks this intrusion is deeply romantic is just a male fantasy 101.
I know the French have a strange relationship to MeToo, wolf whistles on the street, etc, thinking that unwanted advances equal seduction, and this book displays that twisted view of a woman's sovereignty. And Laurain is straight out brazen about his predilection to stalking and perving as a highly preferable sexual experience.

‘Watching someone sleep is like reading a letter that’s not addressed to you.’

NOT addressed to YOU. Hello? Can you fucking hear yourself?

Rather than a small gem of a love story, for me, this book is a dangerous and nasty endorsement of a man's right to invade a woman's privacy and life.

It is a sign of how hypnotized we are in a patriarchal paradigm to not see how deeply creepy this story really is.

[Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me just start by saying, and don’t ask me why, but if a book has a bookshop in it, then I nearly always like it.

Laure realises how much the little things matter in our modern world when her handbag is violently stolen from her at 2am in the morning right outside her building. She has no key to get into her apartment, she has no phone to call her friends, she has no credit card or money to pay for a room in the motel across from her apartment building. Luckily the elderly gentleman at the counter realises that her story is a truthful one and allows her to stay in a room overnight and pay for it the next day. However, when the next day comes and check out time has been and gone the staff send somebody to her room. They find her in bed, in what appears to be a coma, with blood on her pillow from a head wound.

Laurent’s biggest problem is that his electric shaver is on the fritz and the water has been turned off for the day, leaving his reflection in the mirror looking quite dishevelled. Laurent is the owner of a bookshop that he bought off an old couple when it was a café. Because there is a flat connected to the shop, Laurent makes sure that he goes for a walk each morning for exercise. This morning he is bewildered to find a stylish mauve leather handbag sitting peacefully atop a garbage bin. Because it is enigmatically sitting atop the bin rather than in it, he can not resist the urge to open it and have a quick peek inside. Realising that it is full, and that it will either end up in the garbage when it’s collected, or more likely be stolen again, he decides to hand it in to the police, whose station is only a brisk walk away. At the station he is told to hand it into Lost and Found so for the moment he keeps it.
That night Laurent ponders on whether to look through the bag or not. While deliberating he realises that he has never been through the contents of a woman’s handbag before. It just seems morally wrong, an unwritten rule, and by opening it he will have crossed a line and become one of the persons with dubious scruples.

Hours later he is still reading the red notebook that he found in the handbag. Guiltily he finds himself unable to stop, unable to put it down and stop reading. There is a great passage here,

“He had opened a door into the soul of the woman with the mauve bag and even though he felt what he was doing was inappropriate, he couldn’t stop himself from reading on.”

Amongst the belongings in the bag, Laurent finds a book penned by a reclusive legendary author, an author who hadn’t done any signings or interviews for years, personally signed to the owner of the bag. He now at least knows her first name.

Instead of losing interest in what seems a hopeless case, his obsession to find Laure grows and grows. It’s a format that has been done many times before and needs to be exceptionally written for it to rise above the other books of similar ilk. I am delighted to say that this is the case. As it is such a short novel, I don’t want to say any more for fear of spoilers, the narrative is brilliantly crafted, but to explain why would spoil the story. A thoroughly enjoyable read, which is very hard to put down once you start.

This was the fifth buddy read with Nat K and it was her pick. I would just like to thank her for introducing me to this wonderful author, I will be reading more of his work, and please check out her review when she posts it. 4 Stars!

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preciosa y pequeña historia sobre la curiosidad, las casualidades y la literatura. Tierna hasta el punto de reconciliarte con la humanidad!

[Jessaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Fun Clean Flip

I was looking for a heavier book to read, one like what Cormac McCarthy would write, but I found this one instead. I liked the title, so settled on it. I have noticed of late that many romance books have nice titles, and titles can easily draw me to them. Of course, most of the time I am disappointed and stop reading them. This book was not disappointing; it was charming and a clean flip, as they are called here at the Tahlequah library in Oklahoma. A clean flip is a book with pages that flip and clean means no sex, no vulgar language, and probably no violence. But maybe you all know this, and I have only been introduced to it since moving here.

It takes place in the city of Paris and is sprinkled with French words, words that I don’t know how to spell, because it was an audio and had no spell check. I didn’t understand the words either, but that didn’t seem to matter.

It was also a mystery of sorts: A middle-aged woman came home one night and got mugged in front of her apartment building. She tries to fight back by grabbing her purse, but the man was stronger. I wondered why she didn’t carry a weapon of sorts. I mean, even I have an arsenal at home: pepper spray, mace, air horn, and a police whistle. The air horn wasn’t a good idea, as it will blow your socks off. I only needed the mace once, and this was when I was living in Berkeley. I drove into my apartment parking garage and felt that someone was in there, so I got out my mace and got out of the car. A man was just walking into the garage towards me, and I pulled out my mace. He left. I was lucky.

This woman, in this story, whose French name I do not know, was not lucky. He pushed her into the building where she bumped her head, and then he run off with her purse. What is more, she was without a key to her apartment.

A distinguished gentleman was walking down the street the next morning and found her purse on a bin. What is a bin? I can only guess that it is a garbage bin, and that the French don’t use the word garbage or that this gentleman refuses to use it. I don’t know. Maybe it was a potato bin.

Well, he looks inside the purse and sees that many of her belongings are gone and realizes that she had been mugged. He takes the purse home and pours its contents out on the couch to look them over for clues as to who she is. She has more things in her purse than I could imagine would fit into it. And since her phone and wallet are gone, well, that must have been a huge purse What did the thief leave? Lipstick, a bottle of perfume, a red notebook, a book that had been signed by a famous author, and some keepsakes. Now, the gentleman believes that he would really like her because of the contents in her purse, and so he wants to find her. He is in love. So, acting as a sleuth, he sets out to find her.

And when the story ended, I went back to my search for a heavier book and found William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying.” I suppose after reading it, I will be looking for another light read.

[Holly R W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This charming story is the perfect summer read. Just relax, put your feet up and have some iced tea or better yet, French wine. Let the author tell you how a woman (Laure) losing her purse changed both her life and the man who found it (Laurent). There is mystery and romance involved.

Laure is 40 years old, lives alone with her beloved cat (Belphegor), and works as a gilder in Paris. When the book opens, she is mugged and her mauve handbag is stolen. Laurent finds it the next day with all of its contents intact, except for Laure's wallet and cell phone. He makes it his mission to find her and return it. Laurent is 45, divorced with a (sassy) teen daughter, and owns a bookstore.

I'm so glad to have read it.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laure was returning home alone late at night when she was mugged, and her mauve bag was snatched. She was later brought to the hospital suffering from a head injury from the attack.

Laurent, a bookseller, finds the mauve bag by a garbage bin the next morning as he's walking to pick up coffee at his favorite Parisian cafe. There's a long line at the police station so he looks through the bag himself to find some clues to the identity of its owner. Laurent opened the mystery woman's red notebook and started reading:

"She must have recorded her thoughts in the notebook as the whim took her, on cafe-terraces or on the Metro. Laurent was fascinated by her reflections which followed on one from the other, random, touching, zany, sensual. He had opened a door into the soul of the woman with the mauve bag and even though he felt what he was doing was inappropriate, he couldn't stop himself from reading on."(30)

Laurent did not believe in dating services, but he had been hoping for a chance encounter to meet someone to love. Thoughts of the unknown woman fill his mind, and he tracks down clues left by the items in her bag. This is a charming story to read when you're in the mood for a sweet, upbeat book to lift your spirits.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

UTTERLY CHARMING

What would you do if you found a pretty ladies handbag sitting out on top of a dust bin?

Well bookseller Laurent retrieves the handbag with the intention of turning it in to the police. It’s a fine looking handbag and someone must want to have it back.

However, as serendipity would have it that is not what happens.

Intrigue follows bringing this charming little 159 page novella to a most delightful conclusion after leading the reader on a petite mystery dusted with happenstance and advanced with sincere characters that are sure to delight.

“Are you nostalgic for what could have been?” (Pg.124)

This was just the loveliest little book to end the year!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two awkward strangers find their way to one another in a quirky unnerving and uncharacteristic fashion - but fate always finds a way. As everyone says, its absolutely charming. Fun quick read that delighted the senses. As an additional plus, I do love anything set in Paris.

[Arash · Rating 4 out of 5]

اگر نوجوانی فقط یک تعریف داشته باشد، همین خنده های هیستریک است! آدم دیگر هیچ وقت در زندگی این گونه نمی خندد. در نوجوانی، مواجهه ناگهانیِ با این حقیقت که دنیا و زندگی کاملا پوچ و بی معنی است باعث می شود بخندی؛آن قدر بخندی که نفست بالا نیاید. در حالی که در ادامه زندگی، همین موضوع باعث می‌شود آه بکشی، آهی ملال‌آور.


#دفترچه_یادداشت_قرمز درمورد #کتاب است، دفترچه ای گم می شود، کتاب فروشی آن را پیدا می کند، نویسنده هایی نظیر پاتریک مودیانو پا به داستان می گذارند، مرد در پی یافتن صاحب دفترچه، زن به کما میرود و کسی را ندارد...


کتابهای نشر هیرمند خیلی خوب انتخاب میشن، بدون حاشیه و عالی. تا حالا از خوندن کتابهاش پشیمون نشدم و با اطمینان کامل کتابهاش روتهیه میکنم و میخونم. ترجمه خانم محب علی هم عالی بود.
داستان بسیار خوب و خواندنی ایه، اگر حوصله هیچ چیز رو ندارین این کتاب روبخونید و غرقش بشید و لذت ببرید تا حالتون خوب شه.

[Natalia Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una historia muy bonita, intimista, que te deja con muy buena sensación al acabar la lectura.
Si la teoría de que dos personas están destinadas a conocerse porque son almas gemelas fuera cierta... este es el libro que lo certifica.
Me ha gustado como está escrito, integrando los diálogos a la prosa. Los protagonistas, sobre todo Laurent el librero que encuentra el bolso, son entrañables.
¿Puede alguien enamorarse de otra persona simplemente leyendo sus pensamientos en una libreta?
Pues sí, se puede y este libro nos lo cuenta.
¿Lo recomiendo? Sí, sin duda.

[this is shin · Rating 1 out of 5]

به نظر من داستان معمولی ای بود
یکی از همین فانتزی های عاشقانه که همیشه میشنویم و میبینیم و دیگه بنظرم سوژه لوسی شده
کتابی نیست که توصیه کنم حتی احساس میکنم بهتر بود نمیخوندمش
خطر اسپویل
یک مردی که یک کیف پیدا میکنه و بالاخره صاحبش رو پیدا میکنه و اونها عاشق هم میشن
در همین حد پیش پا افتاده

[kian · Rating 3 out of 5]

لحظه هاي خوبي با اين كتاب داشتم.. خوندنش آرامش و لذت خاصي داشت و شيرين بود برام.. اما توي داستانهاي فرانسوي هميشه يه چيزي هست كه من خيلي دركش نميكنم!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely little book: a bittersweet romantic comedy that captivated me from the very first page.

A young woman, Laure, arrives home late at night, after dinner with friends. As she arrives at her apartment block somebody tries to snatch her handbag. She resists, but she is shoved against the door frame and her bag slips from her grasp.

She can’t get through the security door without her keys; she can’t call anyone because she relied on the mobile phone in her bag to remember their numbers; and she can’t get anywhere or do anything without the cash or cards in the purse in her handbag.

It was fortunate that the manager of the hotel across the road saw her very real distress and offered her a room and a bed for the night. Everything could be sorted out in the morning. Except it wouldn’t be that simple.

The next day a bookseller, Laurent, sees the bag sitting on top of a rubbish bin. He recognises that it is a very good bag, not the kind of bag that would be casually discarded, and so he picks it up to hand in at the police station. But he found it wouldn’t be that easy. He was too early and would have to wait for an hour, and then there would be forms to complete and questions to be answered. Laurent couldn’t wait; he had a shop to open and so he left, intending to do something about the bag later.

In the end he decided that he would examine the contents of the bag and see of he could find the owner himself. Of course the purse, the keys and the phone were gone but there were things that could be helpful; a keyring with a hieroglyph, a dry-cleaners ticket, and a novel, personally signed to ‘Laure’ by the author.

And he found a red notebook, that the owner had used to scribble all sorts of notes. He felt rather guilty, reading something so personal, but he hoped that he might find a stronger clue to the identity of the bag, and the more he read the more he realised he really wanted to now her.

Laurent’s efforts to find Laure had results; he found her home, he met her cat, but Laure wasn’t there.

There are more twists in the tale – some predictable and some not – before it reaches exactly the right ending.

This is a story that screams ‘FILM ME!’ I can see it, I really can.

The setting, a lightly romanticised Paris – including a lovely, lovely bookshop – is lovely.

I liked the people. The two leads were nicely balanced, and they were well supported by a jealous girlfriend, an opinionated teenage daughter, a helpful colleague …. It’s a very well balanced cast.

There are lovely details: literary references – that I must confess I didn’t know well enough to know how significant they were; Laure had an interesting occupation; and she had a lovely cat who had a small but significant part to play.

The story is a little contrived, of course it is, but it works well and it does come from the characters; their actions and their emotions.

It works beautifully, as the most charming of entertainments.

I was engaged, and I cared, from start to finish.

[Paria · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتابایی که شخصیت اصلیشون یه کتاب فروش یا آدم اهل کتاب هستن رو دوست دارم. حدودا یک سال پیش اسم این کتابو شنیدم و واقعا مشتاق بودم که بخونمش. کتابش رو پیدا نکردم ولی الان بعد از یک سال فایل انگلیسیش رو پیدا کردم و خوندم و چقدر خوشحالم که اولین کتاب چالش امسالم بود.
داستان درمورد کتاب فروشیه که خیلی اتفاقی کیف زنی رو توی خیابون پیدا میکنه و توی اون کیف دفترچه خاطرات قرمز رنگ اون زن وجود داره. مرد دفترچه رو میخونه و تلاش میکنه اون زن رو پیدا کنه.. زنی که ندیده بهش دل بسته.
خیلی خیلی کتابو دوست داشتم. داستان آدم های اهل کتاب، یه کتاب جذاب و تم فرانسوی کتاب که فضای کتاب رو کاملا متمایز میکنه.
حس میکنم توی کتابا و موسیقی و فیلم های فرانسوی روح لطیفی جریان داره که به وضوح اونا رو از بقیه اثار متمایز میکنه..
و چقدر حسرت خوردم که زبان فرانسم هنوز خیلی کار داره تا بتونم این کتابو به زبان اصلیش بخونم :-(