The Paris Novel

“It was Stella’s first day in Paris. She’s stumbled blearily through the morning streets, jet-lagged and wishing she hadn’t come. The remaining days of her trip stretched before her, a vast uncharted landscape. What would she do with herself, alone in this unfamiliar city?”

The words “stumbled,” “blearily,” and “jet-lagged” convey exhaustion rather than excitement. Stella arrives in Paris reluctantly and already longing for her comfortable life in New York City—an introduction that provides insight into Stella’s initial approach to her new adventure, painting her as someone who resists new experiences. Describing the coming days as a “vast uncharted landscape” emphasizes how lost she feels without a concrete plan.

“After all, motherhood was one of the few failures of her life—and it was certainly not her fault that her child was such a dud. She gave Stella a home and kept her fed and clothed. What was her reward? An ungrateful little girl who did not exert the smallest effort to live up to her standards.”

The early part of Chapter 3 marks the only time that Reichl shifts the narrative’s close third-person point of view away from Stella’s, offering a glimpse at Celia’s detached and neglectful approach to parenting. Switching to Celia’s point of view at this moment allows the author to more impactfully convey the sense of disdain and disappointment that Celia feels toward her daughter.

“[The shopkeeper] bent and held the shoe out. ‘My gift to you.’ It fit perfectly. […] ‘Comme Cendrillon,’ murmured the woman as Stella slipped it on. Cinderella.”

Reichl’s direct allusion to Cinderella, in addition to the narrative parallel of Stella feeling like a different person upon putting on the dress, adds to the fairy-tale structure of the story—a girl who’s suffered abuse, a sudden fortune, and a series of fated chance encounters that lead her to her dream life. In this scene, the shopkeeper acts as a fairy godmother character, facilitating Stella’s transformation from her usual cautious self into a truer and bolder version of herself.