• Age: 16 to 18
• Grade: 11 to 12

When Linda Cope is offered a one-year posting in the world's most popular destination, Paris, husband/writer Gord goes along for the ride. Gord and Linda settle into an apartment on rue Barbette on the Right Bank of the Seine in Le Marais, a neighbourhood rich in controversy, culture, and craziness—in short, their kind of place.

Gord finds his role in the “cast” of Le Marais as a Canadian househusband in Paris. As he makes his way through the months, struggling with dictionary French and ex-pat fever, sampling all the delicacies the boulangeries can offer, befriending shopkeepers and street people, Gord records his musings on Le Marais and the people and history that live there. Here are exuberant vignettes of Parisian life—the curse of the Vespa, the thrills of balcony gardening and fishmonger oysters, discovering Beaujolais Nouveau Day (and the morning after)—the odd and fascinating tales that just don't make it into guidebooks. Such are the many moments that create A Paris Moment.

Gordon Cope is a full-time writer and freelance journalist who travels searching for memorable characters, rollicking adventures and expatriate experiences that North American readers and travellers dream about. He is the author of A Thames Moment, A Paris Moment and So, We Sold Our House and Ran Away to the South Pacific, as well as Secret Combinations his first book in a mystery fiction series.

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