Fatima's Good Fortune Book

An enchanting fable of a Parisian housemaid who transforms the lives of the people around her.

Deep in the heart of Paris, in the elegant Sixteenth Arrondissement, on the bustling Avenue Victor-Hugo, atop the genteel apartment building at Number 34bis, on the sixth floor at the end of a long landing, there is a housemaid s simple room. This is Fatima Monsour s new home.

       
Freshly arrived from a beautiful Tunisian island to work for the exacting Countess Poulais du Roc, Fatima nds herself in a city where even the most mundane tasks walking the dog, buying the groceries, taking the métro prove baffling. But her natural compassion and sheer grit ensure her survival, and unexpectedly bring good fortune to those around her. Gradually, Fatima spreads her spell: the old Countess discovers that life has not lost its capacity to delight; her spoilt nephew, Didi, is inspired to rekindle an old flame; and even the Countess s old dog, Emma, gets a new lease on life. Fatima s new friends including her flamboyant American neighbor, Hadley Hadley III and Hippolyte Suget, a bashful ballet dancer turned burglar all bene t from the magical luck that follows in her wake. And then suddenly, it s Fatima s turn, her moment to seize happiness.

Warmhearted and witty, this story of love, loneliness, and determination is alive with the sights and sounds and tastes of Paris. Fatima s Good Fortune is a tribute to the power of simple kindness in an unpredictable world.

About the Authors:
JOANNE and GERRY DRYANSKY wrote Fatima s Good Fortune side by side in a café in Paris, where they live. Both native New Yorkers, they decided more than twenty years ago to spend a year in Paris and have been there ever since.

Publishers Weekly

In this airy debut by an expat husband and wife team, an unlucky Tunisian spinster finds life and love in the City of Lights. Fatima Monsour is summoned to Paris when her sister, the Countess Poulais du Roc's maid, is killed in a freak accident. Things get off to a rocky start, as Fatima botches the countess's espresso order; almost loses her employer's beloved dog, Emma; and buys the wrong groceries because she can't read the list. But aided by her quirky neighbors at 34bis Avenue Victor-Hugo, including the flamboyant would-be writer Hadley Hadley III, the motley crew at nearby Caf Jean Valjean and her new friends Victorine, a Senegalese housemaid, and Victorine's cousin, Samuel, she endures the comic trials of her new home. When Fatima saves Emma from near death, the lonely countess, who has no one but a kind, unambitious nephew and an estranged, ex-rocker daughter, feels beholden, and their relationship happily improves. Fate alternately smiles and frowns on the good-hearted Fatima. Though her heart was broken back on her Tunisian island home of Djerba, it seems she may even find love with Hippolyte Suget, a shy, divorced ex-robber with an angelic daughter. The plot meanders along a predictable path, and the numerous characters are no more complex than pretty paper dolls, but this Parisian fairy tale, in which an unlikely princess meets her improbable prince, is a frothy charmer. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.