The magic of Paris, found in a little toyshop…

Synopsis

In the tangled streets of Paris, there is a toyshop…

A place where memories are lost and found, where pain and love, regret and joy are waiting to be discovered.

The old man sets the animals in the cars of the miniature train. A tiger with a jewelled collar, a monkey in a pillbox hat, a poodle, a dancing bear, an elephant, an ostrich with plumed tail feathers. The music plays; the animals trundle around the track. Their gentle faces have seen everything and reveal nothing. The joy, the sorrow, all the spaces in between. On the outside, they are smiling. Inside, they mourn the one that was lost.

When Sarah, a successful hotel designer, encounters a run-down toyshop in Paris, little does she know that her life is about to change. Against her better judgment, she agrees to help the elderly owner, Franz, save his shop and transform it into a magical destination for children and adults. She meets Tomas, a small-time crime novelist, who gives her a glimpse of a different life – one that can only exist on the other side of her own grief and guilt. But Tomas is hiding painful secrets of his own that threaten to destroy their blossoming relationship.

Can two lonely people move beyond the shame and heartbreak of the past to find their own happily ever after?

A spellbinding tale of love and memories lost and found. Perfect for fans of Joanne Harris’s Chocolat, Karen Swan, and Jojo Moyes, The Little Paris Toyshop will hit every emotion for readers who love literary romance.

My review

For her job as a hotel designer, Sarah finds herself in Paris, going what she does best. On an errand to please a client, accidently Sarah stumbles upon a toyshop. But it’s not just a normal toyshop… despite it not having the allures of the bigger toyshops, there is something about it and its owner Franz that Sarah finds herself drawn to it. And so Sarah finds herself helping the elderly Franz to save the toyshop and show its magic to everybody.
Luckily, she is not the only one determined to help Franz, as also Tomas, as crime novelist want to offer his help.
While working together, friendships are being built, but are these friendships strong enough to overcome the secrets and guilt they are all having? 

I didn’t know what to expect from this book, and I just decided on a feeling that this book would be worthy of being read.
And was I glad I followed my gut feeling? Of course I did!  

Now, be warned beforehand, this isn’t exactly the feel – good kind of book, that will put a smile on your face from start until the end.
But believe me, by the end, that smile will be on your face! 

It’s clear from the very start that Sarah’s hear has been broken in the most terrible way, and that she is still carrying a tremendous grief and sense of guilt around her. I figured out rather quickly the broad outlines of what happened, but there were still things being kept from the readers. 

I can only try to understand how Sarah, or anyone in her situation would feel, but even if I can impossible understand it fully, I could see why she acted the way she did. And how it’s just impossible for her to move on with her life. 

The way she stumbled upon the unique toyshop is just too spot – on to be random, but somehow that fits perfectly with the magical atmosphere the shop embraces you with. Don’t worry, there isn’t actual magic involved, but it’s the feeling you get from the shop. 

The shop puts Franz and Tomas on Sarah’s path, characters that just like her, are carrying the same kind of guilt, yet for completely different reasons.
Yet, even if they are carrying around the same feeling, they are trying to make show each other that even what happened in the past is terrible, the guilt is also something from the past and they all should try to move on from it, and start to live again. But how can you see the splinter in the eye of another person and not the bean in your own? 

This is a slow story, where things are not solved overnight. And that slow pace is exactly spot – on. Because you don’t just get over things just because someone tells you to. You cannot just step outside your home purely on sheer determination. Just like Sarah tries to make poor Andre understand, you have to take it one step at the time, not wanting to take the next step too quickly, otherwise you will go back to square one… 

I see you think, who is Andre now? Well, I see him as the glue of the whole story. The poor kid/teenager is Tomas’ neighbour. and with Sarah and Franz meeting him, he is even the bigger catalyst to the next step for each character than the toyshop is. 

In this book, none of the characters are flawless. Sarah’s guilt is comprehendible, what Franz did in the past was wrong, but he did it to impress the girl he loved. Tomas’ secret was not what I expected it to be, taking me once again by surprise. But also in his case, I could see how it could have happened. 

The author manages perfectly to write a compelling story about broken people, who find it hard to come to terms with their past. Yet by finding each other, helping each other, they are slowly able to understand that living in the past isn’t living at all and that no matter how hard we wish for it, we cannot change the past. 

I found myself on an emotional rollercoaster, seeing all the characters slowly trying to start living again, but with trial and error, just like in real life we all do. And even when there is a small relapse, only those who understand you, still see the progress you are making, and applaud that, instead of focusing on the negatives. 

And I absolutely loved those little snippets of some toys, with how they too see the world and feel the emotions they are surrounded by!  These little bits added to the magical atmosphere of the story, and made me remember the times that we all had, believing that our own toys were real and understood us better than anyone else! 

This story was a wonderful discovery for me, about pain, secrets and guilt, and how all those feelings slowly can be turned into something beautiful.
And no matter how heavy some aspects of this book were, in the end I felt a lightness over me, and believing that even by having a tough journey, all’s well that ends well…