The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris

Parallel love stories play out in Paris a generation apart in this funny, lyrical story from U.K.–based chick-lit writer Colgan (Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe), about striving for perfection—and forgiveness. Anna Trent and her former French teacher, Claire Shawcourt, reconnect at the hospital where Anna is recovering from a bizarre industrial accident—a spill at the chocolate factory where she works, which has left her missing two of her toes. The cancer-stricken Claire, meanwhile, is being administered chemotherapy. The women bond over their shared pain, and Claire, inspired by the life-changing trip she took to Paris at age 17 in 1972, decides to help launch Anna on her own journey of discovery. What Claire doesn’t anticipate, though, is that Anna will take a job at the famed Parisian chocolate shop of the older woman’s first lover, Thierry, and that Anna will fall in love with Thierry’s estranged son, Laurent. The City of Lights is not just a backdrop here—it’s the beacon guiding Anna’s emotional awakening and Claire’s reconciliation with her first and last love. This cross-generational story is as irresistible as Colgan’s portrayal of Paris itself—and all things chocolate. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. (Feb.)