Lost in Paris by Elizabeth Thompson (ebook smartphone .txt) 📕

smiles at me and plants a kiss on my lips. “I’m moving the feast to Paris.”

AIDEN HOOKS HIS ARM around my waist as we approach my great-grandfather’s grave. Earlier, I tied a piece of lace from Ivy’s sewing box around the flowers so a small part of her would be here with us. As I lay the lilies at the base of the headstone, I wish that I could sprinkle half of Ivy’s ashes here with Andres and leave the other half where she rests now, next to Tom.

I’ve been thinking about how lucky she was to have the devotion of two men in her lifetime.

Since Andres died so young, their love will live on perfect and true in its incompleteness.

And then there’s Tom, the stoic soldier who stood valiantly by her side all those years, loving her in his quiet way and unquestioningly guarding her secret.

Over the past five months, so much has changed. Emma made me a partner in Heart to Heart Tours. I’m in charge of growing the French division of the company. We’ll be adding more tours in Paris, such as Haunts of the French Impressionists and the Les Misérables Book Tour. In the meantime, Les Années Folles is quite popular.

Andres’s final manuscript, which we named Pour l’Amour d’Ivy, will hit the shelves around the holidays. The cover is gorgeous. The publisher commissioned a painting of 1920s Paris with a flapper and a dapper-looking man strolling through Jardin du Luxembourg. It’s already garnering rave reviews from the few lucky critics who have gotten their hands on advance copies, and some are even calling it Andres’s magnum opus.

A portion of the advance will go to the Armand Foundation, and we’re using another portion to pay off the inheritance tax on the apartment. With that, the money we got from the sale of Gram’s house, and the excess on the annuity, we’re going to be more than okay.

In fact, we were even able to present a sizable check to a watchdog organization for international human rights. We made the donation in Andres’s and Ivy’s honor. It seemed the best way to pay tribute to him for giving his life to the resistance, and to Ivy for her lifelong dedication to human rights work.

Since Aiden visits often, I’ve started renting my own little place, freeing up the square la Bruyère apartment for Marla. She remains sober and single, though she and Darius are “talking.” She says she’s happy with her job at Heart to Heart and wants to devote herself to… herself—at least for now. If you ask me, it’s only a matter of time until she and Darius finally find their own happy ever after.

In the meantime, Marla and I continue to work on our own relationship. The fact that we have one is a far cry from where we were when she landed on my doorstep that cold New Year’s Eve.

Sure, we still have our ups and downs like most mothers and daughters, but the one thing on which we will always agree is that getting lost in Paris our first day here was the start not only of finding ourselves, but of finding our way to each other.

Acknowledgments

To my fabulous agent, Ann Leslie Tuttle. Thank you for believing in me and knowing “Paris was a good idea” even before the story was fully formed. To my editor, Maggie Loughran. Thank you for getting my sense of humor. Your keen eye and sage advice elevated this story to its full potential. Without you, this book wouldn’t be what it is today. To Lauren McKenna, thank you for loving Hannah and Marla’s story; I hope I did you proud. Many thanks to the entire team at Simon & Schuster, especially Rachel Brenner, Anne Jaconette, Jennifer Bergstrom, and Aimée Bell.

To Jay, Brendan, Isaiah, Larry, Jim T., Barbara, Wiladean, Juanita, Lynn, Anne, Alex, and Sharon—family is everything.

To Kathy Garbera, Mimi Wells, Lenora Worth, Eve Gaddy, Janet Justiss, Denise Daniels, Cindy Rutledge, Renee Halverson, and Kathleen O’Brien for your unwavering support and everlasting friendship. And to Callie Bowman for the good old days of the ongoing story, when we would pass the notebooks back and forth and dream.

Elizabeth Thompson

This reading group guide for Lost in Paris includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

When a deed to an apartment in Paris turns up in an old attic trunk, an estranged mother and daughter must reunite to uncover the secret life of a family matriarch—perfect for fans of The Little Paris Bookshop and The Beekeeper’s Daughter.

Hannah Bond has always been a bookworm, which is why she fled Florida—and her unstable alcoholic mother—for a quiet life leading Jane Austen–themed tours through the British countryside. But on New Year’s Eve, everything comes crashing down when she arrives back at her London flat to find her mother, Marla, waiting for her.

Marla’s brought three things with her: the deed to an apartment in Paris, an old key, and newspaper clippings about the death of a famous writer named Andres Armand. Hannah, wary of her mother’s motives, reluctantly agrees to accompany her to Paris where, against all odds, they discover Great-Grandma Ivy’s apartment frozen in 1940 and covered in dust.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. Each chapter consists of Hannah’s modern-day point of view and Ivy’s diary entries written in the 1920s and ’30s, alternating between the present and the past. Why do you think the author chose to structure the novel this way?

2. Early on, Hannah refers to her relationship with Marla as a “dysfunctional mother-daughter reality show.” During which points in the novel do we best see examples of their roles being reversed?

3. The story focuses