For fans of Nina George, Elena Ferrante, and Valentina Cebeni, a charming, uplifting novel about a man who sets out to fulfil his dead wife’s last wish. Julien Azouly, the famous French writer of beautiful romance novels, has stopped believing in love. When his beloved wife, Hélène, dies at the age of thirty-three, leaving him alone to raise their young son, Arthur, he is so devastated that he … devastated that he loses faith in the happier side of life—and along with that his ability to write.
But Hélène was clever. Before her death, she made her husband promise to write her thirty-three letters, one for each year of her life. Six months after the funeral, Julien finds himself standing in the most famous cemetery in Paris, the painful first letter in his hand. Little does he know that something strange—and wonderful—is about to happen.
An ode to love, Paris, and joie de vivre, Love Letters from Montmartre brings the reader down narrow streets, past the cozy red bistro on Rue Gabrielle, and all the way to Montmartre cemetery with its beautiful stone angels, where we will discover the truth we all hope to find: that love is real, that miracles can happen and that—most of all—it’s never too late to rediscover your dreams. Empathetic and wise, this is the deeply profound yet very human story of a man who finds love just when he thinks all is lost.
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This was a delightful story of love and grief. The premise of letter writing to someone you have lost, is a wonderful idea. Having recently lost the love of my life, the book was helpful in my grieving process. But the story is touching for anyone.
Very original story. Quite romantic
Delightful, light read!
I really wanted to like this. It seemed to have everything I usually look for in a book: what appeared to be the remake of The Notebook but especially Paris. I really enjoyed the prose, it was definitely beautiful but unfortunately that’s pretty much it. The characters construction wasn’t good at all and I ended up really hating the main character, rolling my eyes all the time. The main issue I had with him was his lack of drive. Julian is just so pathetic, he spends the entire book looking for a girlfriend because he just can’t do anything by himself. Everything he seems to have in his life was just given to him and so is the plot. He’s not the one pushing it forward, he’s so passive always depending on others, until the very end. Facing what’s probably one of the worst things that could possibly happen to someone, he doesn’t learn a thing, doesn’t grow at all. Just too plain for me. Also, I didn’t buy his strolls through Paris, visiting all the touristic places no true Parisian would visit that often.
I’m definitely planning on giving the author a second chance especially for the prose, like I’ve mentioned but this book was a big no for me.
very unusual but a fun read
A grieving widower with a young son promised his dying wife he would write her 33 love letters (one for each year she had lived) and deliver them to her grave. I admit to tears, several times, in the early part of the story as the act of writing exposed his deep love and deep grief at losing her. Wonderful characters, a clever plot, Poignant, and ultimately uplifting and joyful.
It got a bit unbelievable after a while but ended happily ever after.
Too cliche for me
How to overcome grief and find new delight in life & love: sublime!
What a lovely, moving, heart-felt story! I just could not put it down as Julien, a widowed writer with a four-year-old son finds coping with his young wife’s death so impossibly difficult until the last wishes task she set him takes hold.
I can’t think of a single thing I did not like about this book. The writing flows easily, the emotion is palpable, and all of the characters have individuality and substance, right down to dementia-plagued Uncle Paul and his jealous but forebearing wife. The main mystery in the story gave enough clues along the way for me to be pretty certain of the answer, but I have to admit that I was kept guessing right through to the big reveal and confession. With a setting like Paris, with all of its sights and cozy cafes, how can you go wrong? And, despite the sadness at Helene’s passing, there are joyous moments, my favorite being young Arthur’s impromptu art collaboration with his little girlfriend.
This was my first time reading a work by this author and I would not hesitate to read more by Nicolas Barreau. In fact, I just ordered three more of his novels, all set in Paris!
Thanks to Sky Horse Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.
Love Letters From Montmartre 3.5 I was looking forward to reading this book, the story sounds great and super romantic, the blurb made me feel like this was going to be a roller coaster of emotion but I felt like something was missing.
The characters were amazing, the story had a lot of potentials but still, I feel like somehow, somewhere, something got lost. I’m not really sure if it was during the translation of the book but still, I needed more depth. The storyline was there but there was something missing, I wanted to cry and feel the hurt the characters were going through but I never felt it. this is the only reason I’m giving this book 3.5 stars.
Other than that, the writing was good, the characters were also great, I really love Arthur, his sensibility and happiness brought so much to the story and also even to his own dad sadness. I love how something so sad was brought in a way that made us see death in a different way, with more compassion and love.
This is the story of Julien, a father who didn’t find happiness anymore after a tragic event in his life, that changed him and his son forever, now life and circumstances, even close friends are trying to make Julien smile again but only time and a beautiful soul who has a lot of magic in her will finally make Julien sees the light all over again.
Julien and Sophie’s story was perfect, funny, lighthearted, it felt so hopeful, it was the perfect dose for Julien’s heartache something that made him smile and feel alive all over again, it was perfect, it was magical and with a lot of special moments that will bring so much to these two wonderful characters.
Good story, Great characters, poems, and storylines, I really encourage you to give this book a chance and come out with your own conclusions.
I’m looking forward to reading more Nicolas Barreau Books!
Love Letters from Montmartre by Nicolas Barreau is a sweet, romantic, and heartwarming story of love, loss, acceptance, and finding love and life again amongst the hardships.
This is a story of Julien’s path to learning to live and love again despite losing the love of his life, his wife Helene, from cancer.
This is an excellent story for anyone that has had someone taken away from them and had their life permanently changed and altered thereafter. This book is not just about the grief process that Julien goes through, but it is also about the ups and downs of the path that leads him to a new and different happiness and the trials that he overcomes to get there.
I teared up multiple times as I grieved along with him. The ending was appropriate, satisfying, and one is left on a positive note.
Excellent read.
5/5 stars