📖 Novel of the Week: The Cafè of Small Miracles by Nicolas Barreau

I bought this book earlier this year, but it had to wait until this summer, when finally I had time to read it...
I really enjoy Nicolas Barreau's writinig style, it's simple and goes straight to the point, yet it is never boring nor prosy!
Let's dive into the review and thoughts, shall we?

Eleonore "Nelly" Delacourt is a Philosophy doctorate in the prestigious La Sorbonne university, is a quite and reflexive (too much!) young girl with a huge crush over her philosophy professor. She hid her feelings for almost one year and after letting her biggest opportunity to confess slip away, she decides to come clean...to bad the professor also has big news: he's engaged with an Italian colleague and he's about to move to Bologna with her.

Nelly's world collapses and she spends the Christmas holidays alone and sick: that's when she discovers a book, belonged to her grandmother, with the latin inspription "Amor Vincit Omnia" (Love Conquers All) and a few more words, that lead somewhere in Venice...So Nelly does something she never did: she doesn't think twice and jump on a train (she's has aircraft phobia) and goes to Venice for 4 weeks, officially to solve the mystery around her grandma's book, unofficially, well..."far from eyes, far from heart" right?

"If two people are in Venice, it's sure thing they'll end up

meeting in Piazza San Marco."

While in Venice, Nelly befriends with Valentino, a very charming guy who's anyway much more than a pretty face; thanks to twist of fate, he's the one who'll help Nelly to discover the truth abot the book and some aspects of her own grandma she didn't even know...

👍👎My Thoughts

Anyone who read more than one book, knows that Nicolas Barreau's stories are so normal and plausible to be somehow incredible, he's such a creative writer and sometimes secondary characters are even more fun and likeable than the protagonists (in this case, Nelly's cousin Jeanne...but above all Bruno, the lead's best friend in "You'll Find Me at the End of the World").

For the first time we have a geographic change: even if the story starts on a chilly autumn day in Paris, the action and highlights of it are set in the magnificent surroundings of Venice.
To be honest, the motive that leads Nelly to the Italian lagoon city is a bit weak ( heart-break PLUS some writings on a book Nellie is not even 100% sure it belonged to her beloved grandma), BUT everything is forgiven thanks to the romantic description of the city's iconic landmarks as well as the unknown little streets and places not marked on the turistic guides.

Even if the read won't take longer than 3/4 days, I assure you the story will stay for much more!

My vote: 8 /10

Click on the cover for the reviews