It is a long time since a book enchanted me like this one did. I got into bed last night and picked it up , I was around the halfway mark and couldn't put it down until I found out what happened to these characters.

Last Chance in Paris follows an Irish couple, Claire and Ronan, as they take a a weekend break to Paris. The couple have been through a deep tragedy in the previous year and while Claire has little interest in going away she feels obliged to go along but doesn't see how a couple of nights away can save their marriage. When in Paris their lives briefly intertwine with several other people , a Hollywood director regretting the choices he made in life, an American student deeply in love with a Parisian waitress, a displaced Ukrainian girl struggling to protect her sister and an older French woman about to meet someone she has been waiting to meet for almost 60 years.

This story is written with such care, compassion, consideration and just the right sprinkle of magic. Paris is like another character in this tale as its sights scents , secrets and sounds are captured in such vivid detail, I felt like I was walking the streets with these characters. I loved how their lives briefly intertwined and how each character was developed as the story unfolds. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel as the writing is so assured, Marron's writing reminded me at times of Maeve Binchys’ while remaining wholly original. I would watch this story on the big screen, it read like a movie at times.

A spellbinding read that left me feeling content and hopeful. Wishing the author every success with this book, I feel in my bones this one will be read far and wide.


5 stars.


*** One other thing and it is not a criticism as such just that I would never have been drawn to this book cover if I saw it on the shelf. That is most likely a me problem as I would have have missed out on this beautiful read but a part of me feels the cover doesn't do this book justice. More a note to myself not to judge a book by its cover.

So so excited for this one! I will be sharing my full thoughts and review very soon upon completion. I love sort of the anti love story. How Claire and Ronan will or will not repair their relationship over the course of the novel. Paris as a setting is never a bad idea and also how the other characters intertwine in the story.