The Art of Regret by Mary Fleming ~ a Review

 by Susan Roberts

"For many years, in what might have been the prime of my life, I lived and worked on the rue des Martyrs. This narrow market street, which begins its climb at the northern edge of the banking and insurance district and ends in the skein of streets that wraps around Sacre Coeur at the heart of Montmartre, is not on the tourist circuit and has no pretensions to Parisian grandeur.  Behind and above its modest shop fronts are forgettable lives." (p 9)

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October 2019; She Writes Press; 978-1631526466
ebook, print (312 pages); literary fiction

The Art of Regret is a slow-moving novel about life in everyday Paris. We get glimpses of the beautiful city when the main character walks or takes the Metro to other locations but instead of seeing the tourist side of Paris, we get a look at the way the residents live their lives.

Trevor is a 30-something year old man who works in his bicycle shop and lives in a tiny apartment above the shop  He moved from the US to Paris with his mother and brother after a family tragedy.  He still has issues around his life in the US and can't seem to let them go and move on with his life.  His main goal is to live a life without commitments -- to his family, to the women he dates or to his job.  He had dreamed of being a photographer when he was younger but now he doesn't want to commit to it as his profession and is happy meandering through life and lazily running his bicycle shop.

When a transit strike in Paris makes his bicycle shop very busy, Trevor makes a major error in his life that will further estrange him from his family.  After several years when he re-connects with his mother and brother, Trevor begins to change as he hears secrets from his past that have kept him from living a full life.

Even though this book is very slow-paced (sometimes too slow) watching Trevor change throughout the book is very interesting to read.  Plus how you can you wrong with a book that leads you through the back roads and cafes of Paris.

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Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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