Alicia Drake

ELLE book of the month.I knew I was in Paris, I knew that was the Seine beneath me, the sky above, but when I looked around for help, the grand apartment buildings of the Quai Voltaire stared back at me, indifferent.In the sixth arrondissement everything is perfect and everyone is lonely. This is the Paris of thirteen-year-old Paul. Shy and unloved, he quietly observes the lives of the self-involved grown-ups around him: his glamorous maman Severine, her young musician lover Gabriel and his fitness-obsessed papa Philippe. Always overlooked, it's only a matter of time before Paul sees something that he's not supposed to see . . .Seeking solace in his unlikely friendship with tear-away classmate Scarlett and the sweet confections from the elegant neighbourhood patisseries, Paul yearns for unconditional love. But what will he do if he can't find it?Alicia Drake evokes contemporary Parisian life with the subtlety of a latter-day Francoise Sagan, and she captures in Paul the pains of adolescence as poignantly as Salinger's Holden Caulfield. I Love You Too Much is a novel of extraordinary intelligence and heart, a devastating coming-of-age story told from the sidelines of Parisian perfection.

'There's an elegance to Drake's writing that marks her out as a writer to be reckoned with and she shows fearlessness as she explores the mind of that most troublesome of creatures, the teenage boy . . . I Love You Too Much is a considerable achievement.' John Boyne In the sixth arrondissement, thirteen-year-old Paul is adrift in a sea of wealth, pretence and an obsession with status. Struggling with a self-absorbed mother who doesn't pay him any attention and her new boyfriend Gabriel who is chasing his dream of becoming a rockstar, all while trying to form a connection with his own narcissistic father, Paul is desperate to be loved. Always overlooked, it is only a matter of time before he sees something he isn't supposed to see . . . Longing for connection, Paul comforts himself with the beauty of Paris - gorging on its sweet confections and elegant patisseries - and in an unlikely friendship with his rebellious classmate, Scarlett. A moving story set in one of the world's most beautiful cities, I Love You Too Much by Alicia Drake is told with humour, grace and unflinching honesty.