100 Books Like The Paris Apartment

Having lived as an expat for thirteen years, the title immediately grabbed me. I’ve since read all of Chris Pavone’s books.

Kate moved to Luxembourg for her husband’s job and is trying to settle into her role as a housewife, but a series of strange events make her wonder whether her past life in an unconventional career is catching up with her.

I related to Kate’s struggles of leaving a job she loved to focus on family, both the positives and negatives (minus the life-threatening danger). When I left my career, I started writing to create a portable job I could take with me as we traveled the world for my husband’s work, so I completely understood Kate’s need to find purpose in her life.

I am Australian, and while I haven’t been to Newcastle, the atmospheric bushland, venomous snakes, and stunning but treacherous coastline made me feel right at home. This is Lee Christine’s hometown, and her love and respect for the land are right there on the page.

Layer in a detective with a complicated past, a journalist with a connection to the case, a dead judge, and missing lawyers, and Lee has created a wonderful blend of intrigue, scandal, and budding romance.

I enjoy mysteries with well-developed characters who make me care about their personal lives as well as wanting to solve the case, and Lee achieved this.

This book combines two of my greatest loves: ballroom dance and mystery novels. The ballroom dance world is designed for drama, especially when the competition is at Blackpool, the Mecca of ballroom dance.

I was fascinated to see this novel was co-written. Shirley Ballas brings the wealth of her ballroom dance experience to the party, including being head judge of Strictly Come Dancing. Her partner, author Sheila McClure, delivers the literary skills. A fabulous partnership.

Book two is out soon, and I can’t wait.

I lived in Lagos for four and a half years, so a mystery in Nigeria grabbed my attention right away. Vanessa’s descriptions are so vivid that I was transported back there on the page.

I loved the insight into the lives of the Nigerwives—women from other countries married to Nigerian men. The power dynamics within the family were fascinating, and even as I wanted to know what happened to the missing Nigerwife, I was just as intrigued by the cultural insights.

This is a complex and overwhelming book. It covers the detailed contents and history of the rooms and characters in a large apartment block in Paris. Some of the rooms and characters interact in a complex, sometimes dark way. It is a long book, but I found it enthralling all the way through. If you like a detailed, complex, baroque book where you have to read carefully and make connections, this is for you.

If forced to pick a favorite book, I’d probably pick this one. Set in Paris and so well crafted, it’s the ultimate demonstration of how shared ideas about beauty bind us together.

“Old-souled” Paloma is only twelve and can not only recognize but also aptly describe their superficiality. Her point of view alternates with Renée, the luxury building’s invisible yet brilliant concierge. Together, they demonstrate how seemingly different people can galvanize around life’s ineffable elements.  

Their surprising friendship is catalyzed by a lovely Japanese tenant who sees beyond the surface and invites them into his world where he celebrates the quiet, elegant offerings overlooked by so many.

The bonds of these international, inter-generational friends make perfect sense as you grow to know and love the characters, and I relish how they become less isolated, frustrated, and disappointed through their connection. Yet as we’re seduced by their life of the… show more.

I can still remember so much from this book. A great stat Hawes included was that in the year 1870, 90 percent of upper-class New Yorkers lived in townhouses or other types of single-family homes. By 1930, 90 percent lived in apartment buildings or “French flats,” as they were sometimes called. Basically, almost alone among American cities, New York chose to emulate Paris in its model of urbanism rather than London.

New York developers built and sold “French flats” that were large and ostentatious, like the Ansonia and the Dakota, which are still there today. These iconic apartment buildings were built along the streetcar and subway lines. Hawes was a writer for The New Yorker, so this is very readable.

A deep dive into culture, internal conflict, and the struggle to overcome external challenges. The characters in this book were deep and interesting. Their struggle was heartbreaking, and there was nothing you could do to fix the system they were in. They never gave up, even when all hope was lost. 

This book has so much detail to keep the reader fascinated. It’s like looking inside a doll’s house with its constant activity from all the families and residents living there and what they get up to over the course of a day. Each page is a gem and the intricate detail keeps you engrossed in their lives. Adults would enjoy this book too. I still have my well-loved copy from 1995.

Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman books will make you long for some scrumptious whole-grain bread and a crock of creamery butter.

Not only do you get descriptions of Corinna’s bakery and its products, there are also the delectable meals she prepares for herself and her beloved. And, of course, the mysteries she solves along the way. That’s not to mention Corinna herself, a former lawyer and accountant, now happily baking bread in Melbourne as an unashamedly full-figured woman and resident of a delightfully quirky apartment building.