My Wish List: A Novel (Paperback)
$16.00
Special Order
April 2014 Indie Next List
“This story traces the path Jocelyne's life takes after she is the unexpected winner of a very large lottery prize. The title refers to the lists that Jocelyne begins to compose -- lists of what she can do with the money -- and their content is as telling as the fact that Jocelyne has kept the news of her win to herself, not even telling her husband or cashing the check. Delacourt's descriptions of Jocelyne's fabric shop in a small town in France are so beguiling that it doesn't take long for the reader to want Jocelyne's life to remain unchanged, but the lottery win has set things in motion, and the results are unexpected. A lovely gem of a book.”
— Jenny Lyons, Vero Beach Book Center, Vero Beach, FL
Description
The #1 bestselling international phenomenon that asks, If you won the lottery, would you trade your life for the life of your dreams?
Jocelyne lives in a small town in France where she runs a fabric shop, has been married to the same man for twenty-one years, and has raised two children. She is beginning to wonder what happened to all those dreams she had when she was seventeen. Could her life have been different?
Then she wins the lottery—and suddenly finds the world at her fingertips. But she chooses not to tell anyone, not even her husband—not just yet. Without cashing the check, she begins to make a list of all the things she could do with the money. But does Jocelyne really want her life to change?
About the Author
Grégoire Delacourt was born in Valenciennes, France, in 1960. His first novel, L'Ecrivain de la Famille, was published in 2011 and won five literary prizes. My Wish List was a runaway number-one bestseller in France; publication rights have been sold in more than twenty-five countries. Delacourt lives in Paris, where he runs an advertising agency with his wife.
Praise For…
“Delacourt’s appealing novel (a huge best seller in his native France) [is a] dark, suspenseful fable.” —The New York Times
“Fans of Chocolat and The Elegance of the Hedgehog will adore My Wish List, an emotionally wrenching yet ultimately uplifting story of ambition, risk, and acceptance. . . . Jocelyne is an immensely likable narrator, and Delacourt’s fluid, elegant prose brings layers of depth to a relatively simple story.” —Booklist, starred review
“Revelatory . . . with an unexpected twist that speaks volumes about the nature of truth, love and happiness.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“This dastardly little novel focuses on love, desire and what we stand to lose when we win. . . . [A book] the late novelist Josephine Hart might have written.” —Kirkus Reviews
“What is happiness, what can money buy, what happens to love? . . . [My Wish List] will attract . . . those who enjoyed Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog. . . . A sparse, understated, philosophical [novel with] appeal to male as well as female readers, and for literary fiction fans and book clubs.” —Library Journal
“[A] fable about how money changes everything, and nothing . . . The aching need for comfort, safety and love that it describes is universal.” —Publishers Weekly