A review by lizzieanne771
The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown

5.0

You know those books that create the problem where you want to keep reading to find out what happens but you don't want to finish because you don't want the spell to break? That's what this book is.

I well know the world Madeline comes from - even if from the outside as (thankfully) I am not from "Garden Club" or "Junior League" stock, though I went to college in that world and have friends who live in that world. And while I was not forced to give up anything, I drifted away from what was my life in high school and then the passion I found in college. I've recently gotten back into one of them a bit (thanks to the most unlikely of musicals), and I could totally empathize with Madeline. There were times I found myself weeping with her as I was reading - even on the subway one night!

Additionally, who hasn't wondered at times if there isn't more to someone in our family than we know? I know recently I've been curious about one of my grandmothers - why she was the way she always appeared to be to me. I would love to find a trunk of her journals to read - but for me that is only a fantasy. Madeline gets that chance. To say more would be to give away part of the wonder of the book.

This is a magical book - without one bit of literal magic in it - that hit a nerve and made me feel. Brava Ms. Brown, brava!!