Description

‘An elegant and quietly lyrical charting of a life changed by books’ Irish Times

A tender and witty coming-of-age story about the power of literature to inspire new beginnings, peppered with a cast of quirky characters and a unique heroine.

Clara is a hairdresser at Cindy Coiffure, a sleepy French salon with an identity crisis. Her relationship is fizzling out. Her tanoholic boss Madame Habib worships Jacques Chirac and talks longingly of her days in Paris. And now Madame Levy-Leroyer wants to go blonde. Clara can’t help but wonder if there’s more to life than this . . .

Everything changes when a customer leaves behind the first volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. As Clara reads, she discovers a new world. And slowly but surely, she will work out who she wants to be.

Publisher Review

‘Elegant and quietly lyrical . . . captures the quirks and intimacies of life in provincial France, without giving in to easy sentimentality or heavy-handed satire’ Irish Times

‘Full of sensitivity, charm and intelligence. Brilliant’ Antoine Laurain, author of The Red Notebook

‘A sumptuous homage to reading in which the writer deftly depicts provincial life with humour and affection’ Le Parisien’An enchanting, thoroughly human story about the power of literature’ L’Obs

‘In Carlier’s hands seriousness lacks pompousness and humour provides a trusty defence against melancholia’ Le Figaro

‘A book that will do you the world of good’ Livres Hebdo