The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop explores the way literature can act as medicine for the soul. Through Perdu’s practice as a “literary apothecary,” or pharmacist, and through the sub-plot of uncovering Samy as the author of Southern Lights, the novel emphasizes literature’s power to forge connections and to soothe complex emotions.

Perdu’s floating bookshop, the Literary Apothecary, evokes the concept of books as medicine. Perdu sees books as a method for treating “feelings that are not recognized as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors” (23). Perdu, and many of the customers who visit his bookshop, sees that books can validate and soothe the many emotions that come with being a human, emotions that aren’t illnesses but that still need attention. “I’ll bring you a book for crying” (10), he tells Catherine when she says that she feels like she needs to cry more to work through her sadness. Just like a pharmacist might prescribe a pill that targets the body’s pain receptors to help someone manage their pain, Perdu prescribes books that target the emotions to help someone cry, laugh, or feel more confident. This practice works. For example, Anna is happier and more comfortable in her own skin after just a little time with the books Perdu prescribed. Catherine tells Perdu how much the books have helped her, that “each sentence in the books tells [her] something new every time” (314).

The Literary Apothecary is not the only way the novel develops the concept of the healing power of literature. Sanary’s book Southern Light is a robust example of the way a book can heal hurting souls. In this case, it is Perdu’s soul that is soothed by the medicine of Southern Lights. Perdu tells Samy (who wrote the book under the penname Sanary), “I only survived till now because of your book […] It was as if you knew me before I knew myself” (258). Samy tells Perdu how writing the book worked as medicine for her, too. She rejoices that her book brought Perdu and Cuneo into her life: “You brought him to me. Together you and Southern Lights brought him to me,” she exclaims (258). The sub-plot involving Southern Lights explores a specific example of the healing power of literature, both for the people who write it and for the people who read it. Through Samy and Perdu’s conversation, the novel contends that the true healing power of literature is its ability to bring people together, to connect people over time and space.