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L'Affaire
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Plot Summary of L'Affaire
"

Plume, Sep 2004, 14.00, 340 pp.
ISBN: 0452285631

In Palo, Alto, California, Amy Hawkins made a fortune in the dot-com boom. Feeling she owes for her fortunate life, Amy decides to improve herself before doing good deeds. She heads to the Alps ski resort Hotel Croix St. Bernard in Valmeri, France where she plans to learn everything French in two weeks.

The good deed surfaces when she pays for the return of dying publisher Adrian Venn, injured in an avalanche to England. Venn's family gathers to carve up the estate with each expecting to trump the other. Amy finds herself in a loony bin as Venn's two adult children and his illegitimate French daughter expect to eliminate their father's young comatose (from the accident) American wife and their infant step-brother from the estate competition before the final battle royal between themselves. Even the solicitors from France and England are skirmishing over who does what to whom arguing which country takes precedence. Finally there are also the outside straphangers ready to take a slice.

Harriet Klausner

"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of L'Affaire
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - present (2000-2010)
Family, struggle with Yes
Struggle with: - inheritance
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - wealthy
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Unusual Style: - a lot of stream of consciousness - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books to L'Affaire
Cogrill's Mill by Jack Lindsey
The Rich Shall Inherit by Elizabeth Adler
The Vagabonds by Nicholas Delbanco
The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka


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Diane Johnson Resident Scholar Profiles

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