A Time to Choose

by Janine Boissard

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316101028
• ISBN13: 9780316101028
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite books ever

I first came across this book (called Moi, Pauline! in the original French) when I was about 12 and I have read it once a year without fail. Although it is part of a series (3rd in the English, 4th in French) it certainly stands alone. It was the first time I'd come across a story of a young woman who struggles to find her place in the world, within her family, and within herself while also finding a man who both needs her and compliments her.Pauline Moreau is nineteen, just starting journalism school. Already her life has been filled with drama--an affair with a married man at seventeen, dealing with her sisters, and frustrated dreams of becoming a writer. She decides, for a project, to hunt up an acquaintance of hers from a previous Christmas--Paul Demogee, an acclaimed writer, much older, and also an amputee. Of course the project turns into another matter entirely as Pauline realizes she is falling in love with Paul, whose past has scarred him and makes him an unlikely candidate for a serious relationship.Still, as told in various vignettes, Pauline persists, drawing Paul out of his shell and finding the young man he thought was lost at eighteen. As this is going on, Pauline also finds the way to a breakthrough in writing, yet also is keeping an eye on her fragile friend Beatrice, whose own life is slowly falling apart.Mary Feeney's translation successfully captures the spirit of the novel, and the entire series is a compelling look at the lives of a French family as they grow and change during the 1970s.