Cover detail from The Readers Room by Antoine Laurain

The Readers Room by Antoine Laurain

This week marked one whole year since we moved to our new home. Having lived in our previous village for nearly 20 years and making lots of friends along the way, it was hard to leave. Now we have been here for a year, I can't imagine a time where we haven't lived here.

We are lucky enough to live in a beautiful house with a reading connection (it was meant to be!) and we live in the most brilliant village. The people are wonderful, welcoming and so friendly and there is plenty on. It seems fitting that my next review is about a wonderful village and that this review is about a book with a reading connection. A book about books if you will. And you know how much I love those!

Read my Review of Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

The Plot

When the manuscript of a debut crime novel arrives at a Parisian publishing house, everyone in the reader's room is convinced its something special - and the committee for the France's highest literary honour, the Prix Goncourt, agrees.
But when the prize shortlists it, there's a problem for editor Violaine Lepage; she has no idea of the author's identity. As the police begin to investigate a series of murders strangely reminiscent of those in the book, Violaine is not the only one looking for answers. And she's beginning to wonder what role she might play in the story...

My Thoughts

Well I think I've only gone and found my dream job! Imagine spending your days in a beautiful panelled room in Paris, being paid to read books. It just sounds perfect!

Even better is the grading system used by the readers to identify potential successes based on the phases of the moon. But it is that one in a million book, that elusive work with an x-factor graded as 'the sun' and which ensures the reader would then rise and walk to Violaine's editors office. This book will receive many accolades and be published to critical acclaim.

This book is achingly chic. Paris is beautiful, the coffee brewed with teeth-chattering potential. The bread, freshly baked. I felt I was there!

The plot is engaging and excellent - a novel, Sugar Flowers, written by a reclusive author who no-one has ever actually met is a book about an avenging angel who commits a series of murders to atone for a crime. And then murders with similar modus operandi begin to occur. The police become involved. Violaine is involved in an air crash and loses a lot of her memory. She begins to question if she could be involved in the murders? Stephen King makes a guest appearance.And all of this action is carefully marshalled into a series of precise chapters.

All in all, this is marvellously chic. I do love a novel about books and the book world, it is a fascinating place after all. A wonderful story, it is a 5 Star read for me!