Fiction

Nathalie and François had been the perfect couple, and perfectly happy. But after François dies suddenly, only seven years into their still blissful marriage, the widowed Nathalie begins to erect a fortress around her emotions into which no lover can gain access. Except for the most unlikely candidate: Markus, Nathalie’s clumsy and seemingly unimpressive coworker. Slowly but surely, an offbeat romance begins between these two mismatched souls-the still young, extremely attractive, yet deeply guarded Nathalie and the guileless, wholly plain, and flatly unassuming Markus. And, contrary to everything that Nathalie has known and envisioned of love, she finds herself falling for just the opposite type of man than the hero she had always envisioned. A funny, sweet-as-candy story, reminiscent of Nick Hornby and Muriel Barbery.