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The Paris Game: A Novel of Marriage, Memory, and Magical Encounters
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Aug 6 2025
Pages: 230
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.58 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A Novel of Marriage, Memory, and Magical Encounters
What happens when you return to the place where your love story began, only to discover you're sharing the city with characters from your favorite novel?
Roberto and Marianne Castellanos are celebrating their fifteenth wedding anniversary with a week in Paris-their first return since their chaotic honeymoon with all five children from their blended family. Roberto has just retired from teaching literature; Marianne retired early after a hiking accident changed how she sees the world through her camera lens. They're no longer the overwhelmed parents managing teenagers and six-year-olds in the Louvre. But who are they now?
As they retrace their steps through the Latin Quarter, an extraordinary thing begins to happen. The fictional characters from Julio Cortázar's legendary novel Hopscotch-La Maga, Horacio Oliveira, and the mysterious child Rocamadour-start appearing in the streets of Paris. Only Roberto and Marianne can see them, and only one character appears each day, challenging them to examine their marriage, their approach to aging, and what it means to truly experience life rather than merely document or analyze it.
But this isn't just any novel-it's two novels in one.
Like Cortázar's masterpiece, The Paris Game can be read sequentially for a complete, satisfying story. Or you can follow The Anniversary Game-a hopscotch navigation that takes you deeper into memory and mystery, revealing additional chapters that explore the couple's family history, creative awakenings, and the magical objects that witness long marriages.
Roberto, a retired professor who has spent his career teaching about authentic living, must learn the difference between analyzing experience and inhabiting it. Marianne, a photographer learning to put down her camera, discovers that some moments are too sacred to capture. Together, they navigate the beautiful challenge of being married strangers in a strange city, choosing each other again after fifteen years of learning how.
Perfect for readers who loved:
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (complex love stories across time)
- The Midnight Library (magical realism exploring life's possibilities)
- A Man Called Ove (marriage, aging, and finding meaning in later life)
- The Time Traveler's Wife (love stories that transcend ordinary reality)
Winner of acclaim for its innovative structure and deeply human storytelling, The Paris Game is a love letter to marriage, literature, and the magic that can emerge when we remain open to wonder.
A brilliant exploration of how the stories we read shape the stories we live-and how sometimes they become the same story.
This novel captures something essential about long marriage: it's not about finding your soulmate, it's about choosing to keep seeing each other with fresh eyes.
Available in print and digital editions. The enhanced e-book features hyperlinked Anniversary Game navigation for seamless hopscotch reading.
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