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

heavily on the relationships between women. Discuss the differences and similarities between Marla and Hannah’s relationship and Ivy and Helen’s friendship.

4. In the apartment, Hannah and Marla discover mysterious clues about Ivy’s life, including a diary detailing evenings of drinking and dancing with Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and other iconic expats. Why do you think Ivy hid her life in Paris from her granddaughter and great-granddaughter?

5. Can you pinpoint the moment after arriving in Paris when Marla and Hannah begin to mend their relationship?

6. As Hannah talks through her new Paris tour while walking along the Seine with her mother, Marla stops her and says, “Maybe it’s not so much what you say, Hannah, but how you say it.” Can you find other instances when Marla feels this way toward Hannah? Why do you think this comment hits Hannah so hard?

7. In her diary, Ivy discusses the volatile relationship between Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Discuss Zelda’s decision to give up ballet and her belief that Scott stole her work. How do you think the Fitzgeralds’ relationship compares to the other relationships in the book?

8. Hannah’s potential love interests, Aiden and Gabriel, are secondary to the story’s main plot. How do they still drive the plot forward and affect Hannah’s character development?

9. Marla and Hannah remember Granny Ivy as “stern and matronly.” In what ways do you think the war and Andres’ death affected and changed her? Do you think she kept the Paris apartment as a way to honor his memory?

10. Gabriel says that the Paris apartment is “a city treasure” and that “everyone wants to own a piece of history. Some are willing to pay extra to obtain it.” If you were in Marla’s and Hannah’s shoes, would you keep the apartment or sell it at a high price?

11. Toward the end of the book, Marla unites Hannah and her birth father. Why do you think the author thought this was important to the plot and to Hannah’s overall story?

12. Why do you think Hannah agrees to give her mother the Paris apartment? Discuss what you think the apartment and gesture mean to Marla.

13. By the end of the novel, Hannah and Marla have gained an apartment in Paris and newfound family. What else—tangible or intangible—have they gained?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Plan your own moveable feast! Make a picnic based on the meal that Aiden prepares for Hannah’s tour: French onion soup, crispy baguette with foie gras, and crème brûlée. Or improvise, making the menu your own.

2. Marla shows Hannah a “French phrase-a-day calendar.” Create your own set of French phrases and practice speaking them with your group.

3. While in Paris, Hannah visits the Rodin Museum, the Eiffel Tower, Shakespeare and Company bookstore, and the Seine. Assign each member of your book club one of these famous locations and ask each to research a few facts so your group can create its own “virtual” Paris tour.

4. Ivy was a fashion designer in the 1920s. Research fashion icons of the era, including Zelda Fitzgerald and Coco Chanel, and share some of the key trends of the time.

5. Hannah questions, “Why didn’t we ask for more details about her life when she was alive?” Reach out to your eldest family matriarch and ask her a set of questions about her past.

More in Fiction

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Then She Was Gone

Who Do You Love

When Life Gives You Lululemons

The Storyteller

Beautiful Disaster

About the Author

ELIZABETH THOMPSON is a lifelong Francophile with a degree in journalism, and Lost in Paris is her first novel. She currently resides in Tennessee with her husband and their Pembroke Welsh corgi, Luna.

FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:

SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Elizabeth-Thompson

SimonandSchuster.com

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Nancy Robards Thompson

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First Gallery Books trade paperback edition April 2021

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Interior design by Davina Mock-Maniscalco

Cover design by Laura Klynstra

Cover photography by Getty Images

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Thompson, Elizabeth, author.

Title: Lost in Paris / Elizabeth Thompson.

Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2021. | Identifiers: LCCN 2020015678 (print) | LCCN 2020015679 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982149086 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781982149093 (ebook)

Classification: LCC PS3620.H684 L67 2021 (print) | LCC PS3620.H684 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015678

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015679

ISBN 978-1-9821-4908-6

ISBN 978-1-9821-4909-3 (ebook)