We'll Always Have Paris cover art

We'll Always Have Paris

Trying and Failing to Be French

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We'll Always Have Paris

By: Emma Beddington
Narrated by: Emma Fenney
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About this listen

As a bored, moody teenager, Emma Beddington came across a copy of French ELLE in the library of her austere Yorkshire school. As she turned the pages, full of philosophy, sex and lipstick, she realized that her life had one purpose and one purpose only: she needed to be French.

Instead of skulking in her bedroom listening to The Smiths or trudging to Betty's Tea Room to buy fondant fancies, she would be free and solitary, sitting outside the Cafe de Flore with a Scottie dog at her feet, a Moleskine on the table and a Gauloise trembling on her lower lip. And so she set about becoming French: she did a French exchange, albeit in Casablanca; she studied French history at university and spent the holidays in France with her French boyfriend.

Eventually, after a family tragedy, she found herself living in Paris with the same French boyfriend and two half-French children. Her dream had come true, but how would reality match up?

Gradually Emma realized that she might have found Paris, but what she really needed to find was home. With enormous wit and warmth, this is a memoir for anyone who has ever worn a Breton T-shirt and wondered, however fleetingly, if they could pass for une vraie Parisienne.

©2016 Emma Beddinton (P)2016 Audible, Ltd Cultural & Regional Women England

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Most relevant  
I was an exchange student and have always loved Paris. This book rang true on so many level as a raw account of a city that everyone loves but most find hard to live in.

Loved it

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I loved this book! It spoke to me of displacement and perceived ideas of what we think we want and the reality of the thing. The thing I loved the most was the thread of love woven throughout the book. Good solid love. And how she misses things we take for granted when we are abroad. As a Francophile myself my dream is to move to France but what if my dream doesn’t match up? This book made it startling real for me. I’m certain it’s a book I will dip into time and time again.

An excellent read

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Was very dissatisfied and disappointed with this book boring and a bit overwhelming in so much dramatic a woman's life can be.

Boring

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