A Garden in Paris ~ my review

A Garden in Paris by Stephanie Grace Whitson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At the beginning of Stephanie Grace Whitson’s A Garden in Paris, protagonist Mary Davis brings into her Omaha home a placard reading: It is never too late to be what you might have been. This saying gives her hope in a floundering recovery from her husband’s death two years ago. Widows commonly rediscover who they are after their husbands’ deaths, but what piques Mary’s interest in this hopeful aphorism is much more complicated.

This novel takes us to Paris with Mary on her journey to revisit who she was before her marriage and see what she wants to do next. We meet a former lover and new French friends. Worried about Mary, her hostile daughter Liz and steadying fiancé follow her to Paris. There, with these people, in the unique beauty of Paris, Mary seeks and finds forgiveness, lets go of regrets, and finds joy and laughter again.

I really cared about Mary. Forgive me if this is a spoiler, but I mention that Mary’s romantic possibilities, career/hobby choices, and spiritual journey are not resolved only because I want to read the sequel, Stephanie Grace Whitson’s A Hilltop in Tuscany.




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