My Douglas Kennedy shelf is in the bookcase in my hall. That row of books is quite full of itself. There are many hardback books and even the paperbacks are large. Somehow this seems quite suitable as these are big stories with a capital B. It also seems apt that they are written by an American, albeit one who is a passionate Anglophile and has lived in London for years. He and his work are both also particularly popular in France.
And that is my segue. Having been to Paris very recently, it made sense that I choose ‘The Woman in the Fifth’ from the row of Kennedy books, ‘the fifth’ referring to the Paris arrondissement, on the left bank, close to the Seine.
There is often a fair degree of ‘noir’ in these hefty stories and in this one the author plays with magic realism, unusual for him. Harry Ricks is a man who has lost everything. When scandal threatens to completely destroy him, he flees the small mid-west town he lives in and lands up in Paris. With little money and no likelihood of any immediate improvement in his situation, he is forced to the grubby outskirts of the city to find an affordable room. Unintentionally, he becomes involved with the edges of criminality and events begin to spiral out of control, certainly out of his control.
And then, unexpectedly he meets Margit, an elegant Hungarian emigre and a long term Parisian resident. They become lovers but Margit has rules that must be observed and she keeps her distance from Harry.
And thereon we are not entirely sure where reality starts or stops, and nor is Harry. But, you have to keep reading as this is compulsive.
So if ‘The Woman in the Fifth’ is part thriller, part romance, then ‘Isabelle in the Afternoon’ is a full on, steamy love story; a love story that covers a lifetime. Sam, an American student in Paris, meets Isabelle in a bookshop and is quickly smitten with this sophisticated, enigmatic Parisienne. ‘Cinq a sept’ is all she will offer Sam, take it or leave it. The consequences of this affair follow Sam back to Boston and New York and affect the rest of his life.
Douglas Kennedy is adept at blending historical and global affairs with the domestic and romantic twists of his story. These two books are great reading. I’m now re-reading ‘The Pursuit of Happiness,’ all 646 pages. Wonderful stuff.