Two sweeping stories of love in France—one a sparkling romantic comedy in 1930s Paris, the other a vast, acclaimed historical epic about one of France’s greatest writers and the women who shaped his life.
READER, I MARRIED HIM by Anne Green
Catherine Douglas is a penniless young American living with her widowed father and brother in 1930s Paris, surrounded by family complications, charming friends, romantic intrigues and perpetual financial disaster. She has fallen hopelessly in love with Gilbert Hunton, a wealthy American who intends to marry within his own social circle—which decidedly does not include Catherine. When he becomes engaged to another woman, Catherine turns in desperation to the potions, visions and worldly wisdom of a Parisian mystic, hoping for a little magical help in winning the man she loves. The result is a sophisticated, witty and irresistibly romantic comedy that contemporary reviewers praised for its gaiety, charm and breezy sophistication.
WINE OF LIFE by Charles Gorham
Gorham’s monumental 728-page historical novel brings to life Honoré de Balzac—from his unhappy childhood and years of failure to his emergence as one of the towering figures of French literature. But Wine of Life is as much a story of passion as artistic genius. Balzac’s life was shaped by a succession of remarkable women—lovers, patrons and confidantes—culminating in his extraordinary, years-long romance with Polish countess Evelina Hańska, the great love of his life.
Gorham recreates nineteenth-century France on an epic scale, weaving Balzac’s turbulent romances, staggering debts, extravagant ambitions and obsessive devotion to his work into a richly detailed fictional biography. One modern assessment praises Gorham’s ability to balance historical accuracy with dramatic storytelling, calling the novel entertaining, moving and remarkably vivid in its recreation of Balzac’s world; Wine of Life has also maintained unusually strong reader ratings decades after its original 1958 publication.
Anne Green, Charles Gorham /
Anthologies, Historical, Romance
