The Red Notebook

April 1, 2015
One evening in Paris, a woman named Laure is mugged, her expensive handbag is stolen, and she ends up in the hospital in a coma. Bookstore owner Laurent discovers the bag lying on top of a trash bin, emptied of anything that would identify its owner. When turning the bag in to the police proves to be too much trouble, he sets out to trace the woman who owns it by sifting through its contents. Urged on by Chloe, his 15-year-old daughter, Laurent follows various cluesa red notebook, a dry-cleaning ticket, a book signed by Patrick Modiano (who makes a brief appearance as a character)and eventually makes his way to Laure's apartment ( itself like a sort of giant bag ), posing as a friend and taking over the job of feeding her cat. When Laure wakes up and hears about this mystery man, she, in turn, embarks on a quest to track him down. The plot has the makings of something rather sinister, but in the hands of Laurain (The President's Hat, 2013), it is elegant, witty, lightheartedand somehow very French.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)