True love letters to literature, these three books by bestselling author Nina George are gathered for the first time in a kit for readers who believe in the power of stories and encounters to influence and heal our lives.
The Magic Bookstore of Paris
From his boat-cum-bookstore anchored on the Seine, literary pharmacist Monsieur Perdu intuitively analyzes his clients' problems and prescribes books for all of life's difficulties. The only person he seems incapable of healing through books is himself: for years, he has been haunted by the heartbreak he suffered when the woman of his life disappeared, leaving only a letter. Which he has been unable to open.
Twenty-one years later, however, Perdu finds himself forced to read the ill-fated letter. So he weighs anchor and sets sail for the south of France on a mission. In the unlikely company of a writer suffering from writer's block and an Italian cook searching for the mysterious boatwoman who stole his heart, Perdu sails the rivers of rural France, sharing wisdom and books, and demonstrating that the world of literature can guide the human soul on the path to healing.
Southern Lights
As a baby, after losing her parents and grandmother, Marie-Jeanne Claudel is adopted by a couple: a loving but sometimes naive antiques dealer and an excellent cook who has difficulty expressing her feelings.
Despite her adoptive parents' communication difficulties, the girl had a peaceful childhood. But when her father opened the Philis Traveling Library in Nyons, southern France, which brought the best books of world literature to the doors of peasants in the late 1960s, Marie-Jeanne discovered at the age of 12 that she had a unique gift: she could literally see love and which hearts were destined for each other. She saw a spark that connected them.
How will Marie-Jeanne use this gift? And how can the magic of books help her in this mission?
Monsieur Perdu, the protagonist of The Magic Bookshop in Paris , had a favorite book: the fictional Southern Lights . According to Nina George, her readers began looking for the book in bookstores, and when they couldn't find it, they contacted her asking about it. After receiving so many inquiries, Nina decided to write this beautiful and moving story about love.
The Fantastic Literary Pharmacy of Monsieur Perdu
Three years after abandoning the bookstore boat and embarking on a romance with the sculptor Catherine in Provence, something still bothers Jean Perdu: his life doesn't seem quite right.
Enter José Saramago: Nobel Prize winner for Literature, one of the most important Portuguese authors of all time, and once a visitor to the pharmacie littéraire . During his visit to the boat-bookstore, Perdu suggested that Saramago write a third book after Blindness and Lucidity : Daydream . And lo and behold, years after the writer's death, Perdu receives this manuscript as a gift! But to open it, he must fulfill Saramago's dying wish, which shakes up his life.
So, shortly after his 55th birthday and encouraged by his friends, Monsieur Perdu reclaims his beloved barge and sets off on a journey alongside writer Max Jordan through the French canals to Paris. But the paths are tortuous, and it doesn't take long for the bookstore-boat to become an ark where people, animals, and books meet and are transformed forever. And this great adventure that is life holds a new beginning for each of them—including Monsieur Perdu himself.
