Synopses & Reviews
An endearing fable of a Parisian housemaid whose magical warmth transforms the lives of the people she meets, and ultimately her own.
The Countess wants her perfectly drawn espresso at the perfect moment. Emma, her aged Labrador, requires endless papmering. And the streets of Paris are impossibly complicated, the shopkeepers rude. Fatima, fresh from Tunisia, in her orange djellaba, is a fish out of water and nursing a broken heart to boot. Sent to replace her late sister as a maid to the demanding Countess, she left her lovely native island feeling a heady mixture of liberation and fear, and now she faces impossible challenges and frightening surprises round every corner.
With the help of her flamboyant new American friend, Hadley Hadley III, and the eccentric habitués of the local Café Jean Valjean, Fatima begins to find herself and work her magic. And when a shy hotel night clerk captures her heart, Fatima discovers her right place in her new world and finally blossoms.
This heartwarming first novel from husband-and-wife team Joanne and Gerry Dryansky is an enchanting parable on the enduring power of kindness in an unpredictable world.
Review
"This Parisian fairy tale, in which an unlikely princess meets her improbable prince, is a frothy charmer." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Populated by a charming, eccentric cast of flawed yet good-hearted characters, the novel allows readers to believe that goodness is sometimes rewarded." Booklist
Synopsis
In this endearing fable, a Parisian housemaid's warmth transforms the lives of people she meets, and ultimately her own.
About the Author
Joanne and Gerry Dryansky wrote Fatima's Good Fortune side by side in a café in Paris, where they live. Both native New Yorkers, they decided more than twenty years ago to spend a year in Paris and have been there ever since. Gerry is the European editor of Condé Nast Traveler, and Joanne has written several screenplays with her husband for Eurpean producers.