Review: The Little French Bistro

The Little French Bistro by Nina George

Crown, 2017.  Hardcover, 336 pages.

Despondent, Marianne decides to commit suicide rather than to continue living in a loveless marriage with a man who treats her wrong.  When she is saved from drowning, she is taken to a hospital where she finds a hand-painted tile that calls to her.  Instead of remaining where her husband has left her, Marianne escapes the hospital and heads to the town depicted on the tile-Kerdruc on the Breton coast.

Marianne arrives with plans to sink into the sea, however she is mistaken as a sou chef who had been requested for a local restaurant.  She soon finds herself being drawn into the tight-knit community and learning to live life anew.  Join Marianne on her journey as she rediscovers herself and makes lasting impacts on the lives of those she meets.

This charming book is a must-read for those who wish to be swept away by the story.  It is also something anyone with a struggle in life should read thanks to its reminder to live life to the fullest.  George kept readers hooked and also tied in the many stories that define the Brittany region of France, making this book an introduction to an often overlooked culture within another.

When compared to George’s American debut, The Little Paris Bookshop (reviewed in 2015), I found several comparisons and contrast.  In Bistro, George’s prose flowed more easily than that in Bookshop and that made it an easier read.  And both were magical in their storytelling. Like with Bookshop, Bistro‘s title is a misnomer.  It was not a French bistro in with Marianne worked, it was Breton through and through.  The British title would have been more appropriate, The Little Breton Bistro, but I guess the publisher wanted to make the tie-in to Bookshop by evoking the names Americans would know.

Have you been swept away by this novel yet?  If so, please share your thoughts. If not, do you think you may?

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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