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Review: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

I received an advanced review copy of this title from Gallic Books.  It has been translated from the French by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce.

What Laurent does find inside the purse are very intimate details about a stranger’s life.  This unknown woman has placed pictures, a keychain with hieroglyphic script, and special rocks in her satchel.  Most importantly Laurent finds a red notebook in which this woman was recording her most private thoughts.  Laurent decides he must find this woman because he feels that, through his perusal of her mementos, he has gotten to know her and has developed a fondness for her.

The purse belongs to Laure who, at the very beginning of the story, has been hit on the head and mugged.  The thief takes her purse, removes everything of value from it and dumps it on the street in Paris.  Due to the trauma to her head Laure spends two weeks in the hospital in a coma.  When she wakes up and remembers the theft of her purse, it is the loss of her personal items that bothers her the most.

The book is suspenseful because we never know if Laurent can manage to put enough clues together to find Laure.  It is actually his teenage daughter, who at first appears to be a selfish little brat, that helps her father find Laure.  We know from the details given throughout the novel that Laurent and Laure are lonely and have been for quite some time.  They both also have a love of books.  So if they do manage to find each other they are obviously a perfect match.

THE RED NOTEBOOK is uplifting, heart-warming with the just the right amount of drama. I recommend it as the perfect novel to enjoy while you are sitting outside on a sunny spring day.

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Filed under France , Literature in Translation

Tagged as French Novels , Literature in Translation , Paris

4 responses to “ Review: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain ”

I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) The President’s Hat and this sounds similar. I’m definitely going looking for The Red Notebook !

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This book made me want to go back and read The President’s Hat! Thanks for the recommendation, I will definitely try it now.

I am intrigued by the echoing names: Laurain, Laurent, Laure. What is the daughter’s name? I wonder about the significance of this. Clearly, a very personal story, and the names are another link between these fated lovers as main characters.

I was thinking about that too, but I couldn’t quite make any connections to the plot. His daughter’s name is Chloe.

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I enjoy books in various genres, but especially literary fiction, literature in translation, historical fiction, history, short stories and travel writing and poetry. I know Latin and Ancient Greek so classics are my specialty.

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Review: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Bookseller Laurent Letellier finds an abandoned  handbag sitting on top of a trash bin.  Its contents full, Laurent knows it wasn't intentionally left behind.  As he examines the contents inside, he discovers a wealth of information about the owner. Everything except her name. The item most interesting to him is a red notebook. Inside, the owner has jotted down her dreams, her wishes, her fears. Captivated with just this information, Laurent becomes even more determined to discover the owner's identity.. At his daughter's prodding, Laurent delves deeper into the woman's life, finding himself an uninvited, yet captivated witness to her most personal details. Laure is a gilder who spends her days crafting the most beautiful of pieces with gold-leafing.  well aware of her own hopes and fears, she struggles to find happiness. Upon walking home one evening, she becomes a victim of a purse-snatching. Wounded, everything she held dear torn from her hands, she is forced to beg for kindness to find a place to sleep in the hotel directly across from her apartment.  She sleeps, but doesn't awaken; a head injury sends her into a deep coma. Upon awakening, she learns from friends of a man who showed up at the perfect moment, a bit of salvation so desperately needed. He cared for her cat in her absence, returned her bag full of precious mementos. This act of kindness compels her to search for him when she is released. Two strangers, brought together by one horrific incident. Their fates, and futures, forever changed.

Sometimes, a reader comes across a book that captivates them so intensely that they feel lost the moment they turn the last pages.  This title is that book for me.  While brief in page count, it is filled to the brim with beauty and intensity, mixed with humor, mystery, and a touch of classic romance, that together create a truly monumental read.

This novel so expertly captures the very essence of two compassionate individuals.  Two strangers, both searching for something missing (both physically and emotionally) in their lives.  What this author captures and shares in his prose is simple in scope, yet complex in its beauty.

Laurent only recently succumbed to his passion to open a bookstore.

An existence devoted to reading would have been his ultimate fulfilment, but it had not been given to him…up until the day he had started to feel , dimly at first, then more clearly, that the man he had become was the absolute opposite of what he really was…the weight turned into an anguish which was succeeded by the intolerable idea that he was wasting his life – or even that he has already wasted it

This decision to change his life, to chase after his dreams, describes the very core of Laurent’s character. His passion for life, for love. His ability to comprehend the world and the opportunities we are granted in a way many others never see, or take for granted:

…we can pass right by something very important: love, a job, moving to another city or another country.  Or another life.  ‘Pass by’ and at the same time ‘so close’ that sometimes, while in that state of melancholy that is akin to hypnosis, we can, in spite of everything, manage to grab little fragments of what might have been.  Like catching snatches of a far-off radio frequency.  The message is obscure, yet by listening carefully you can still catch snipets of the soundtrack of the life that never was.

I could go on endlessly about the beauty contained within this novel, but I shall stop, instead focusing my passion on sharing this book with the world.  A book that will astound readers with its simple, quiet yet intense, beauty. One I guarantee you will cherish, as I have, endlessly.  Highly, highly recommended.

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The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain: review

Christian House enjoys a whimsical novella set in a gentle Paris

Few authors can whip up a dollop of literary whimsy quite as smoothly as the French author Antoine Laurain. A prize-winning novelist, he is also a screenwriter and antiques collector, pursuits that infuse his bittersweet fiction with both a cinematic eye and a magpie’s mindset.

His 2013 bestseller The President’s Hat turned the misadventures of François Mitterrand’s chapeau into a fable of romance and redemption. The book employed a relay narrative in which the hat changes the fortunes of those into whose hands it falls (a man punches above his weight at work; a woman leaves her married lover; a retired perfumer creates the perfect scent). It was a small book that said a lot about providence. It won the Prix Landerneau Découvertes in France and, in Britain, was selected for the Waterstones Book Club.

Laurain’s new novella, The Red Notebook, again uses a found object as the axis on which to turn a tale of happenstance. His world-weary protagonist, Laurent Letellier, is a middle-aged banker-turned-bookseller with a jealous girlfriend and a manipulative teenage daughter. His Paris shop, Le Cahier Rouge, provides an odd kind of sanctuary, with its soporific routine of stocktakes and signings and customers who gently rib him that he looks as scruffy as Rimbaud. This inertia is unsettled when Laurent finds a woman’s bag sitting on top of a bin in the street.

It is a set-up worthy of an Ealing comedy. “Did women ever throw their handbags away?” he asks himself. With his curiosity piqued, he takes the bag home and picks through its “nooks and crannies” with forensic precision, a task he equates to “dissecting an octopus on a kitchen table”.

Among the ballpoints, sweets and hair clips, two significant items emerge: a novel by the Nobel Prize-winner Patrick Modiano , inscribed to “Laure”, and a red moleskin notebook in which the mysterious Laure has scribbled her thoughts. Laurent learns she loves wood-smoke and sleeping on trains but hates red ants and electric fans. “What I really need is a friend just like me,” writes Laure. “I’m sure I’d be my own best friend.”

The Laurent/Laure aggregation is lightly spun, yet the pair’s kinship is soon evident. Laure is a gilder, owns a cat named Belphégor and, unknown to Laurent, is lying in a hospital bed across town in a coma, having been mugged for her bag.

Joining the dots provided by the inventory of objects, Laurent begins to search for her, a trail that takes him to dry-cleaners, hieroglyphic experts and the Luxembourg Gardens.

This is in equal parts an offbeat romance, detective story and a clarion call for metropolitans to look after their neighbours. Rather than a version of Notting Hill for the St-Germain set, the story is more personal and jagged. Laurent, for instance, is painfully aware that his quest could be construed as creepy. His girlfriend thinks so and swiftly dumps him.

He fits into an archetype of French cinema: the aesthete suffering from a crippling case of ennui (all that staring down the Seine and reading Montaigne). Think of Gerard Depardieu in Trop belle pour toi or Daniel Auteuil in pretty much anything. Thankfully there is enough self-awareness to dilute any sense of déjà vu.

The banter between Laurent and his daughter is amusing and the scenes in Laure’s workshop are picked out with sensual details: “The static electricity lifted the leaf above the layer of wetted Armenian bole covering the woodwork.” The totemic power of belongings is equally well observed. Laurain captures the potent combination of sentiment, superstition and association attached to the most unlikely things. Laurain previously turned a black felt hat into a talisman, like Chaplin’s cane or Tolkien’s ring. Here, possessions form signposts to identity rather than an ignition for reinvention.

In light of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Laurain’s gentle Paris, with its café crèmes and eccentric bibliophiles, could have seemed bogus. However, what emerged in the wake of those awful events was a shared investment in the city’s character and its culture, and Laurain’s book captures something of that communal spirit. Aided by Jane Aitken’s elegant translation, reading The Red Notebook is a little like finding a gem among the bric-a-brac in a local brocante.

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain (tr by Jane Aitken)

208pp, Gallic Books, Telegraph offer price £8.99 (PLUS £1.99 p&p) (RRP £8.99, ebook £5.39). Call 0844 871 1515 or see books.telegraph.co.uk

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Review: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

Written by Antoine Laurain, this book has been translated from French by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce. I’d previously read The President’s Hat so I had a small idea of what to expect. I loved that book so I was very excited and intrigued when The Red Notebook arrived. I love the covers of both this book and The President’s Hat. They are beautifully drawn and adds to the whimsical theme of the book.

This book isn’t very long. It is under 200 pages so I read it in a couple of sittings. It’s perfect for if you want a book for a train journey or a lazy afternoon. The style of writing is easy to get into and I was reading it not realising a huge chunk of time has passed.

Antoine, in my opinion, captures Paris so well. I’ve been twice before and I really do want to go back again after reading this book. The setting and atmosphere in this book is great.

It’s a lovely, charming story about two people who have never met. Laure especially seems a little lost. There were elements of her character I empathised and related with (aside from her name.) I lived in London for a while. I didn’t know many people there at the time and it’s amazing how lonely a large city can feel if you’re alone. Therefore, I wanted to know that she was going to be OK – especially when you read the events at the beginning of the book (I don’t want to say too much as I don’t want to give it away.)

Laurent sets about finding Laure and this adds mystery to the novel. The plot works well. I did have an idea of how I wanted it to end. There was enough mystery to keep me wanting to turn the page.

This is a mystery, detective, romance and self discovery novel all in one. There is an enchanting, magical air about it.

A lovely, charming book.

( The Red Notebook is available in paperback from most major bookshops. Thank you to Gallic Books for the review copy. Click here to view on Amazon UK . )

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The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

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B : has an easy-going charm

See our review for fuller assessment.

   From the Reviews : "It is a set-up worthy of an Ealing comedy. (...) This is in equal parts an offbeat romance, detective story and a clarion call for metropolitans to look after their neighbours. Rather than a version of Notting Hill for the St-Germain set, the story is more personal and jagged." - Christian House, The Telegraph Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

The complete review 's Review :

But all the tension and magic of the quest had vanished the moment they had spoken. The return to reality had signalled the end of the affair.

- M.A.Orthofer , 12 April 2015

About the Author :

       Antoine Laurain is a French author.

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REVIEW: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

Heroic bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. There’s nothing in the bag to indicate who it belongs to, although there’s all sorts of other things in it. Laurent feels a strong impulse to find the owner and tries to puzzle together who she might be from the contents of the bag. Especially a red notebook with her jottings, which really makes him want to meet her. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

Cher Monsieur Laurain,

This looked different and in truth I enjoyed a lot of the story but there is something readers will have to answer for themselves as they read it. Is Laurent a disturbing semi-stalker or is he a romance hero in the making? I weighed in more on the side of romance hero but a friend who read it in the original French never got over her feelings of unease.

The book jumps straight into the action with Laure’s mugging and Laurent’s discovery of her (now abandoned by the thief) handbag. Thwarted by police bureaucracy as he tries to turn it in, Laurent decides to go through the contents to see if he can discover to whom to return it. First he has to overcome his feelings about how men – from the dawn of time – have never felt comfortable opening and delving into a woman’s purse. Eventually he does and even as he knows what he’s doing is inappropriate, he can’t stop reading what she’s written in a red moleskin notebook. Laurent views the items in Laure’s bag as a bookseller would. An appointment book similar to the type his shop sells, a pen to jot her notes and then a book with an inscription in it from the elusive author who wrote it among other items.

Stop at this point and analyze your feelings about this. Because it’s going to get worse. So … en avant.

The search continues with little hints dropped here and there that are to keep one from thinking of Laurent as a stalker. We learn his life, meet his family and coworkers and watch the break up of his year long relationship with a woman obviously intended to be cold and dislikable. Then there’s Laurent’s buddy, Pascal’s cynical pursuit of women on dating sites – including Ashley Madison – to temper the reader’s unease at what Laurent is doing. Our sympathies are fully engaged for Laurent. While Laure isn’t physically present for most of the book, the very act of Laurent discovering things about her from her belongings keeps her front and center in our thoughts.

As she wakes from the coma, the mystery she’s been a (silent) partner in is gradually revealed to her. Meanwhile there comes a point where Laurent really crosses the line when he actively interferes in Laure’s life. This skeeved me notwithstanding the “get out of jail” card he gets when Laure’s opinion of the caller is revealed.

Even though Laurent feels all kinds of (justified) guilt over his (freely acknowledged) intrusion into Laure’s life, it is still disturbing. I think most women would be at least a little freaked out, which Laure is, but she’s soon enmeshed in trying to find Laurent in reverse. Does this excuse and balance part of what he did? The end is very Amelie-esque and I can say I liked a lot of the novel and the romantic ending yet that feminine unease never quite left me. B-

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Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there's no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.

Dear Jayne, Laurent is not a stalker. This is a caring man who is intrigued by a woman to whom he begins to dream. The events go beyond and he is driven to go further than he thought (get into the apartment and feed the cat) but it is fate and it is for the best. There is an atmosphere of mystery in the book … the quest is mysterious and fraught with pitfalls … But it seems to me that there are also many passages with humor and sensitivity… here are some elements for an answer… have a good week-end. Sorry for my bad English.

Antoine Laurain from Paris

@ antoine Laurain : Good morning and thank you for visiting the blog and commenting. In the end of the story, yes all went well. The story is mainly told from his point of view and he is the hero. But as I mentioned, I believe readers will have to decide for themselves how to view Laurent’s actions.

Readers will always bring their varied feelings and viewpoints to a reading experience. As a woman reading the book, real life did color my perception.

Thanks for the review Jayne!

I read this almost a year ago and still have many conflicting feelings about it. I really hate that I enjoyed it! When I think back on the good feelings I have about the book, my other brain kicks in and tells me to just stop. Laurent was a stalker and his feeling guilty about it doesn’t absolve him of such egregious behavior. I’d have to take breaks after some of these behaviors but I give the author credit that this didn’t end up a DNF for me. It was well written and wondering if Laurent would ever comes to terms with some of his tactics kept me going back. I also became terribly invested in Laure’s life. It was almost like I was as obsessed as Laurent in finding her story. Maybe I was.

I ended up giving it a C because that was balancing the A parts with the F parts.

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The Red Notebook

Antoine Laurain Emily Boyce (Translator) Jane Aitken (Translator) Gallic Books ( June 2015 ) Softcover $14.95 ( 159pp ) 978-1-908313-86-7

Parisian bookseller Laurent Letellier, on his way to enjoy a double espresso and study his notes for an upcoming book signing, discovers a mauve leather handbag, in excellent condition and obviously not empty, sitting upon a waste bin that had been left out for pick-up. This strikes him as very strange—no woman he had ever known would have tossed such a bag into the trash; most likely she had been robbed, he thinks. There is nothing in the bag to identify its owner, only some personal effects and a small red moleskine notebook filled with the intimate writings of a woman Laurent begins to feel he would really like to know. Meanwhile, the handbag’s owner, Laure Valadier, is lying in the hospital in a coma after having been mugged at the door of her apartment. An intriguing chain of events, fueled by his fascination with the mysterious woman, leads Laurent to become ever more entangled in her life.

This tender and charming romance, written with characteristic Gallic flair, is part mystery and part love story. Flawlessly written, it does everything just right and, at the end, leaves a smile of satisfaction.

Paris-born Antoine Laurain is a journalist, antiques collector, and the author of five novels.

Emily Boyce, from London, is in-house translator at Gallic Books; Jane Aitken, of Oxford, studied history at St. Anne’s College.

Reviewed by Kristine Morris Summer 2015

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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The Red Notebook

By Antoine Laurain and Benjamin Constant

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Average rating: 6.48

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The Red Notebook: True Stories Paperback – June 17, 2002

Purchase options and add-ons.

The Red Notebook brings together in one volume all of Paul Auster's short, true-life stories―a remarkable collection of tales that documents the curious, miraculous, and sometimes catastrophic turns of everyday reality.

• Print length 104 pages
• Language English
• Publisher New Directions
• Publication date June 17, 2002
• Dimensions 4.8 x 0.4 x 7.1 inches
• ISBN-10 9780811214988
• ISBN-13 978-0811214988
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0811214982
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Directions; First Edition (June 17, 2002)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 104 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780811214988
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0811214988
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.68 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.8 x 0.4 x 7.1 inches
• #4,490 in Essays (Books)
• #56,006 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Paul auster.

Paul Auster is the best-selling author of Man in the Dark, The Brooklyn Follies, The Book of Illusions, The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Among his other honours are the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke and the Prix Medicis Etranger for Leviathan. He has also been short-listed for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions) and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (The Music of Chance). His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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