We'll Always Have Paris: Trying and Failing to Be French

'Honest, funny, touching' Good Housekeeping

A witty, heartbreaking and patisserie-fuelled memoir of how one woman tried and failed to be French.

As a gloomy teenager, Emma Beddington decided that when she grew up she was going to be French. She would be free and solitary, and sit at pavement cafés sipping un verre du vin, a notebook at the ready amidst a fug of cigarette smoke.

Eventually, she found herself living in Paris with a French boyfriend and two half-French children. Her dream had come true. But it wasn't what she'd expected at all. And as she came to terms with a family tragedy, Emma began to realize that being French wasn't the answer. What she had really been looking for was home . . .

'A sumptuous ode to Gallic philosophy, patisserie and joie de vivre, and also a poignant account of relationships, loss and identity' Independent

'Emma writes frankly and with self-deprecating humour about depression, motherhood, her Paris dreams and their soul-crushing reality, and cake. There's so much cake in this delightful, thoughtful book' Sarra Manning, Red