'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery

Renee is the
concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building on the Left Bank.
To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated - an ideal concierge. But Renee
has a secret. Beneath this conventional facade she is passionate about culture and the arts, and
more knowledgeable in many ways than her self-important employers.

Down in her lodge, Renee is resigned to living a lie; meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old
Paloma Josse is determined to avoid a predictably bourgeois future, and plans to commit suicide
on her thirteenth birthday.

But the death of one of their priviledge neighbours will bring dramatic change to number 7,
Rue de Grenelle, altering the course of both their lives forever.

Book club read for May