When I am between books, typically as I wait for my next title to arrive at my library for me to read, I search the stacks for authors that are familiar to me. That is how I stumbled upon The Little French Bistro by Nina George. Ms. George had captivated me in The Little Paris Bookshop, with the book seller matching books to help people solve life’s questions. The Bistro, as the Bookshop, is full of older characters, wise in many ways, but foolish in others. Marianne, a sixty year old German woman, tries to kill herself when on vacation with her husband of 41 years by jumping into the Seine after she wandered away from a tour with no one noticing. She is saved by street people and taken to a hospital. Here she sees a painting of the coast of Brittany and is compelled to go there. She begins her journey with nothing but what she had upon leaving the hospital. Along the way she is both helped by, and helps, nuns, chefs, fishermen, artists and more. As these people are drawn to her open and caring being, she is being introduced to herself in the same way.
She starts the journey with a wish for death, her life is dragging her so low. She has given up music, driving, work and more, one thing at a time, as she makes her way through her 41 years of marriage. She allows her world to be narrowed and defined by a husband that is absent in emotional and physical ways. She wishes she had children, but does not seem to have an explanation for not, other than saying her husband was unfaithful and didn’t give her pleasure.
As each day in Brittany begins, Marianne takes a walk to the water at the End of the World, what Brittany is known. It is from there that she finds pathways to new friends, like Pascal, where she is able to use her knowledge of having volunteered with seniors before. As she meets each new person, and savors each new experience, she opens herself up to a bit more of who she wants to be. At her wedding, her father saw that the groom never asked her to dance, and asked if she was happy. This lost opportunity to express her desires and needs passed, and continued to pass, until she learned to start again in Brittany.
A lesson in knowing you have a responsibility to speak up for what you want, it also acknowledges how things can go wrong when you think you know the answers. As long as you are open with yourself, and those around you, happiness will be there for you.
The Source 4 Books 