‘Falling in Louvre’ by Fiona Leitch
‘A heartfelt, funny and romantic caper – a mashup masterpiece!’ – Sandy Barker, author of ‘That Night in Paris’.
Bertrand is King of the Pigeons…
Unofficially. From his perch atop a gargoyle on Notre Dame cathedral, he surveys his kingdom. He sees Sylvie Cloutier, art lover and ex-antiques dealer, making dinner for her bullying husband Henri, trapped in their loveless marriage like a bird in a gilded cage. He sees security guard, hopeless romantic and bookworm Philippe Moreau cycling through the streets of Paris in his crumpled uniform, late (again) for his night shift at the museum.
When Sylvie begs her husband to let her go to work, he gets her a job as an evening cleaner at the Louvre. He thinks such a menial position will dispel any ideas about independence she might have, but his plan backfires when she falls in love with kind, gentle Philippe. They decide to run away together, but there’s a major problem: neither of them has any money.
One stormy night in the Louvre, the answer to their prayers falls into their lap… But is it really the solution, or just another, even bigger problem?
What follows is a romantic, wistful but madcap adventure through (and under) the city of lights, involving a stolen painting, an art heist in reverse, and Eric Cantona. Will love find a way?
I’ve previously reviewed a couple of Fiona Leitch’s novels and I was quietly swept away by her lightness of touch and her soufflé light tales of murders in small English villages.
Here, Leitch crosses the Channel and lands us in the capital of love. ‘Falling in Lourve’ is a switch of pace to a light romantic comedy but it channels another writer I am a big fan of, Peter Mayle.
The caper aspect is well handled and the horrible husband a believeable enough turd to make you root for Sylvie and Philippe to succeed in their madcap adventure.
This is a novel designed for holiday reading and, as the nights draw in, I can only hope that this acts as beacon of light relief in our darkening days
Purchase Link – mybook.to/Louvre
Author Bio – Fiona Leitch is a writer with a chequered past. She’s written for football and motoring magazines, DJ’ed at illegal raves and is a stalwart of the low budget TV commercial, even appearing as the Australasian face of a cleaning product called ‘Sod Off’.
After living in London and Cornwall she’s finally settled in sunny New Zealand, where she enjoys scaring her cats by trying out dialogue on them. She spends her days dreaming of retiring to a crumbling Venetian palazzo, walking on the windswept beaches of West Auckland, and writing funny, flawed but awesome female characters.
Her debut novel, ‘Dead in Venice’, was published by Audible as one of their Crime Grant scheme finalists, and her bestselling cosy mystery series, The Nosey Parker Mysteries, is published by One More Chapter/HarperCollins.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/fionakleitch
https://www.instagram.com/leitchfiona/
PAJ Newman 