In publishing circles they are sometimes referred to as WATO books. “What on earth is a WATO?’’ I asked the book industry specialist who first dropped the term when we were discussing the Eat, Pray, Love phenomenon.
“It’s the Women Against The Odds memoir, and they’re among our bestsellers,’’ he explained, then added that perhaps I should consider writing one about the experience of opening up a bookshop during the global financial crisis. “Definitely a WATO contender, especially if your shop survives,’’ he assured me in a non-reassuring way.
When I stand in front of a biography bookshelf, WATO stories are not my first choice of purchase. However, those worth recommending include The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion; Brenda Walker’s Reading By Moonlight: How Books Saved a Life, horse trainer Gai Waterhouse’s autobiography; Lunch in Paris by American writer Elizabeth Bard; Foxeys Hangout by former Age journalist-now winery owner Cathy Gowdie; and, my current read, A Widow’s Story: A Memoir, by Joyce Carol Oates.
Beautifully presented in a small hardback, I confess I had a WATO-weary moment when it first arrived in our shop. But the word “Paris’’ on the cover was a big attraction. So too the book’s format. It is not simply one woman’s ramble about her French experience but is an earnest attempt to address the problems and difficulties people face when they make the courageous decision to live in another country.
Paech, her husband Tim and their two small daughters, Georgie and Annabelle, moved to Paris when Tim was posted there for work. As the “trailing spouse” Paech, who is also a nurse, was ineligible for a work permit. “A perfect opportunity has arisen to pursue my dream of becoming a food and travel writer,’’ she writes.
It sounds like bliss. But moving to Paris presented the family with many challenges. Securing an apartment is frustrating. A trip to IKEA to buy new furniture becomes an 11-hour day. Settling the children in their new schools, navigating the transport system, where to shop and how to source the right suppliers, how to dress, coping with a new identity as the “trailing spouse’’ – Paech’s memoir tackles the tough stuff and reminds us that despite its beauty, Paris can bewilder those brave enough to move there.
But as she learns more about the city, Paech’s contact book swells. And herein lies the book’s main attraction: the author’s suggestions on where to eat, shop, walk, entertain kids, visit and stroll provide anyone travelling to Paris with important insider knowledge.
The Paris-bound reader will thank Paech for cutting a path through the maze of boulevards and cobblestoned streets. Her observation and writing skills come to the fore and, as she explained in a recent radio interview, they provide the foundation of her book.
“Everywhere I went there was something gorgeous and I was overwhelmed by it all,’’ Paech said. “I decided I wanted to write about it, so everywhere I went I had a piece of paper. I was forever getting my pen out. I was forever writing on café coasters – anything I could get my hands on.’’
The end result is a delightful collection of travel memories and a love letter to a city that, despite its flaws, continues to inspire people like Jane Paech.
Published by Lantern (Penguin Australia).
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