Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher

LESSONS IN FRENCH

Hilary Reyl

Lessons in French tells the story of Katie, a college graduate who spends a year as an assistant for Lydia Schell, a famous American photographer in Paris.
Once in Paris, Katie finds herself surrounded by a wild cast of characters, including the bright, pretentious Schells, Katie's cousin, Etienne, her fellow Yalie, Christine, and a bande of independently wealthy young men with royal lineage. Immediately on arriving, Katie falls in love with Olivier, a Franco-American mamma's boy who is forever in search of reclaiming his family's lost grandeur. He is also the boyfriend of Portia, Lydia's daughter. Secretly dating Olivier is the first of Katie's many ethically suspect decisions as she works for Lydia. A real incursion into the life of the intelligentsia and the privilege through the lens of a particularly winning if flawed assistant, this novel is a fascinating slice of life in a time and place so rich it brims at the seams. Exquisitely written in an assertive prose, it is also a mighty good read which redefines "unputdownable". Reminiscent of The Devil Wears Prada and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas it is a literary indulgence. Hilary Reyl has a PhD in French Literature from NYU, with a focus on the Nineteenth Century, and has spent several years working and studying in France. She lives in New York City with her husband and twin daughters.
Available products
Book

Published 2013-03-01 by Simon and Schuster

Comments

Any ambitious young woman who has ever been out of her depth in a new job, new city or new romance will recognize a bit of herself in Ms. Reyl's heroine.

The city’s beauty is written with such vivid detail that it’s easy to imagine being there. If you enjoy art, literature, politics, or food, this story is for you!... Read more...

Hilary Reyl has crafted the ultimate sophisticated coming-of-age-story. Not since Diane Johnson's Le Divorce have Americans in Paris seemed so compelling. Lessons in French is not only an impossibly romantic and sensual delight, but its characters--witty and surprisingly poignant-- stayed with me long after I savored the final page.

Brazil: Intrínseca; Britain: HarperCollins UK; Holland: Artemis; Lithuania: Metodika; Poland: Albatros

“Paris is an irresistible backdrop and a proving ground in Hilary Reyl’s emotionally wise first novel. As Kate struggles to find who she truly is amid the ever-brewing storms in the Schell household, her lessons are hard-won and often risky—and yet we believe and fully root for her from page one. An affecting and intelligently drawn debut.”

“With its complicated love story, rich cast of accomplished and eccentric characters, and vivid evocation of late 1980's Paris, Lessons in French is a delight from the first page. I got so caught up in the story, I almost believed I was young, living in a Parisian garret, and fluent in French.”

What follows is both a bittersweet tale of personal growth and a paean (well deserved!) to Paris. Having lived there, Reyl should light up the City of Light. Read more...

great interview, the first piece of UK press Read more...

French literature scholar Reyl’s first novel is rich and magnetic, a snapshot of one young woman’s life in a city at once ancient and bubbling over with life.

interview on Gretchen Rubin's Happiness project blog Read more...

Un bon livre.

A fantastic first novel by Hilary Reyl. Read more...