In Paris With You

October 29, 2018
Originally written in French, this novel in verse inspired by Pushkin’s serialized verse novel and Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin explores first love’s ability to linger. A chance meeting on the Paris Metro brings Tatiana and Eugene back together 10 years after the two spent time together one summer, when they were 14 and 17, respectively. Tatiana is now getting her PhD in art history, and Eugene is a business consultant. Neither is prepared for the feelings this encounter dredges up. For Eugene, it’s an opportunity to right a wrong; he rebuffed her years ago, and now he’s ready for a chance to love. For Tatiana, it’s a chance to find out what really happened to a mutual acquaintance, Lensky, who died tragically. Texts, emails, and even Skype messages appear throughout, but the meter and tempo of the words—and the placement of those words on the page—pack the most punch (“This friendship laid out, guts exposed,/ pinned down like a dying butterfly:/ either it will be a museum piece one day/ or it will survive, miraculously”). Anyone who has pined over a relationship will recognize Beauvais’s heartbreaking story. Ages 14–up.

British actor Ellie Heydon narrates this French romance with the knowing tone of an omniscient narrator. It's a short and sweet crossover between contemporary new adult and young adult fiction. Listeners will have to adjust to a narrator with an English accent performing a story set in Paris, but Heydon's pronunciation of French words is impeccable. Throughout the many flashbacks, she manages to distinguish between lead characters Eugene and Tatiana as insecure teens and, 10 years later, as more confident 20-somethings. There are a handful of supporting characters, and Heydon is particularly memorable as grown-up Tatiana's pompous graduate school adviser, who, like Eugene, is smitten with the talented young art historian. This is ideal for fans of angsty, bittersweet love stories. S.A.C. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine