Diane Johnson is the author of the bestselling novel Le Divorce, a National Book Award finalist, as well as many other novels, including Persian Nights, Health and Happiness, Lying Low, The Shadow Knows, and Burning. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Persian Nights, and she co-authored the screenplay to The Shining with Stanley Kubrick. She divides her time between San Francisco and Paris.
“Another wickedly clever comedy of manners… In six degrees of
separation, everybody is connected, yet the coincidences are
artfully managed. Johnson's crisp manipulation of the engagingly
convoluted plot is rooted in her central theme of French
misconceptions about Americans, and vice versa. As exemplified by
Holly and Cray, even those who share the same culture habitually
fail to estimate the other accurately. Johnson's barbs are
sophisticated and sharp, her amused irony is easily maintained, and
her finesse at narrative is as fine tuned as her cultural
sensitivity and her instincts about human behavior.”—Publishers
Weekly (starred review)
"Splendid entertainment... Johnson is one of our most astute
cultural critics."—The New York Times Book Review"A comic novel in
the classic manner, with smart style, piquant suspense, and
dog-earingly epigrammatic prose."—San Francisco Chronicle"A witty
romp."—Elle"Johnson whips love and marriage into a frothy
souffle...delicious."—Entertainment Weekly"Like Jane Austen,
Johnson delights in the worldly rituals surrounding courtship and
marriage...she is a philosopher as much as a novelist."—The New
Yorker"Rich, nuanced, and highly satisfying."—Glamour
“Johnson is a beguiling writer, serving up catty observations with
loopy good humor… near-perfect… a masterly storyteller who can pull
off a storybook ending—love, joy, a trip down the aisle—without
making us gag.”—Salon
Even more knowing and perceptive than Le Divorce, Johnson's second novel about American expatriates in France is another wickedly clever comedy of manners. Her amused irony infuses this story of two romantic relationships. Good-natured Tim Nolinger, an easygoing journalist of mixed American and Belgian ancestry, is engaged to adorable Anne-Sophie d'Arget, who runs a boutique selling equestrian memorabilia in the Paris flea market. When Tim pursues a story about a stolen medieval manuscript called the Driad Apocalypse, their lives intersect with those of a former American film star, Clara Holly, and her husband, famous and reclusive director Serge Cray, who live in a chƒteau in the suburbs of Paris. Peripheral characters include Anne-Sophie's mother, a cynical Parisienne novelist whose romance novels contain platitudinous advice about love that her daughter takes seriously; various members of the American community in Paris; the villagers of Etang-la-reine, who resent the rich property owners from the States and whose anger about the loss of their hunting rights triggers a plot against the Crays; two visitors from Clara's hometown in Oregon, and the members of a millennium cult there, who are pivotal in the drama of the purloined papers. What will be even more satisfying to Johnson's fans is the appearance of a character from Le Divorce, the dashing Antoine de Persand. In six degrees of separation, everybody is connected, yet the coincidences are artfully managed. Johnson's crisp manipulation of the engagingly convoluted plot is rooted in her central theme of French misconceptions about Americans, and vice versa. As exemplified by Holly and Cray, even those who share the same culture habitually fail to estimate the other accurately. Johnson's barbs are sophisticated and sharp, her amused irony is easily maintained, and her finesse at narrative is as fine tuned as her cultural sensitivity and her instincts about human behavior. As the novel ends, it is not surprising that le mariage of Anne-Sophie and Tim seems doomed by misunderstandings, but an adulterous liaison between two other characters conveys the mesmerizing passion of true love. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
"Another wickedly clever comedy of manners... In six degrees of
separation, everybody is connected, yet the coincidences are
artfully managed. Johnson's crisp manipulation of the engagingly
convoluted plot is rooted in her central theme of French
misconceptions about Americans, and vice versa. As exemplified by
Holly and Cray, even those who share the same culture habitually
fail to estimate the other accurately. Johnson's barbs are
sophisticated and sharp, her amused irony is easily maintained, and
her finesse at narrative is as fine tuned as her cultural
sensitivity and her instincts about human behavior."-Publishers
Weekly (starred review)
"Splendid entertainment... Johnson is one of our most astute
cultural critics."-The New York Times Book Review"A comic novel in
the classic manner, with smart style, piquant suspense, and
dog-earingly epigrammatic prose."-San Francisco Chronicle"A
witty romp."-Elle"Johnson whips love and marriage into a frothy
souffle...delicious."-Entertainment Weekly"Like Jane Austen,
Johnson delights in the worldly rituals surrounding courtship and
marriage...she is a philosopher as much as a novelist."-The
New Yorker"Rich, nuanced, and highly satisfying."-Glamour
"Johnson is a beguiling writer, serving up catty observations with
loopy good humor... near-perfect... a masterly storyteller who can
pull off a storybook ending-love, joy, a trip down the
aisle-without making us gag."-Salon
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