Margins
The French Effect book cover
The French Effect
2025
First Published
4.76
Average Rating
328
Number of Pages

From the bestselling author of the LOVE IN PROVENCE series, comes a hopeful and heartwarming journey that reminds us it’s never too late for a second chance. France has a way of changing your mind ... and your heart ... Novelist Nora Bennett is living her fifties with more doubts than dreams. Once content with her quiet life, she’s recently found herself battling writer’s block, a growing restlessness—and resistance to a holiday season she’s long stopped celebrating. So, when her daughter Chloe, an artist living in Paris, asks her to dog-sit an intimidating Doberman named Atticus, Nora surprises them both by saying yes. Delicious meals, long walks through the storied streets of Montmartre, and a chance to rediscover a spark of joy in the glittering holiday lights of Six weeks in the City of Light might be just the escape Nora needs. Except Paris has other plans. Nora agrees to ghostwrite a memoir for 93-year-old Marie-Louise, who reveals haunting memories of surviving the Occupation as a child of the Resistance. A charming younger tango partner with secrets of his own introduces Nora to the French art of pleasure. All the while, the city’s irresistible festive spirit envelops her gently. Chloe invites Nora to spend Christmas at her husband Olivier’s centuries-old ancestral farm in Provence. There, Nora is embraced by the warmth of family and treasured traditions. She’s also unexpectedly drawn to Pierre, her son-in-law’s moody and magnetic father. Their connection is undeniable, even as he seems intent on keeping his distance. But when Atticus suddenly goes missing, Pierre joins Nora in searching for him. Soon a winding road trip returning to Paris softens their defenses ... and reveals complicated truths behind their guarded hearts. Yet as Nora’s time in France begins to wind down, she must Return to the comfort of the life she knew – or leap into a bold new chapter she never imagined beyond the pages of her novels.

Avg Rating
4.76
Number of Ratings
58
5 STARS
76%
4 STARS
24%
3 STARS
0%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Patricia Sands
Patricia Sands
Author · 12 books

Bestselling author Patricia Sands lives two hours north of Toronto, Canada, in The Blue Mountains, when she isn't somewhere else, and calls the south of France her second home. An admitted travel fanatic, she can pack a bag in a flash and be ready to go anywhere … particularly the south of France. With a focus on travel, women’s issues and aging, her stories celebrate the feminine spirit and the power of friendship. Her award-winning 2010 debut novel, The Bridge Club, is a book-group favorite, and The Promise of Provence, which launched her three-part Love in Provence series (followed by Promises to Keep and I Promise You This), was a finalist for a 2013 USA Best Book Award and a 2014 National Indie Excellence Award, an Amazon Hot New Release in April 2013, and a 2015 nominee for a #RBRT Golden Rose award in the category of romance. Her fifth novel, Drawing Lessons, was released by Lake Union Publishing on October 1, 2017. Lavender, Loss & Love, ~A Season of Surprises ~and The First Noel make up the the Villa de Violettes series, based on the Love in Provence characters. The Bridge Club ~ Tenth Anniversary edition ~ was released in September 2021 and is now in Kindle Unlimited. On August 25, 2022, her novel THE SECRETS WE HIDE will be released. Sands also contributes to such Francophile websites as The Good Life France and Perfectly Provence and loves to visit Book Clubs either live or on ZOOM! Info on her website. Find out more at Patricia’s Facebook Author Page, Amazon Author Page or her website. There are links to her books, social media, and a monthly newsletter that has special giveaways, photography from France, and sneak peeks at her next book. She loves hearing from readers. Patricia has led six 10-day tours of the French Riviera and the countryside of Provence. She will be co-hosting another 'Sold Out' women's tour of Provence in September 2021 with her good friend Deborah Bine aka The Barefoot Blogger. Find out more at Patricia’s Facebook Author Page, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads or her blog where you will find links to her books, social media, and monthly newsletter. She loves hearing from readers, so don’t hesitate to email her. Follow her on Instagram @psands.stories

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