An audio book set in Cambridge, England.
Jude, 46, works in Gatsby's - not a trinket/antique shop, but a place where people discover their talismans and wishes come true. When a half-sister (who she never knew she had) dies, she adopts Gertrude, 11, who is beautiful and has a talent for assessing people's problems.
Viola did a term at Trinity before her father died. "She always experienced everything twice: when it happened and when she told her mother it happened". She works in a restaurant and a cooking competition is coming up. She sleeps with her boss Henri, a competitor.
Matthieu, a lecturer, has a son Hugo, 11. His wife died in Paris 2 or 3 years before. Hugo still isn't eating properly. He meets Viola. They sleep together. Hugo doesn't warm to Viola. Viola wonders how Matthieu could have grieved while having to look after a child.
Jude has a conversation with her half-sister as if she were alive. She finds her own lucky charm. Gertrude suggests to Viola that she go abroad seeking a husband, letting Getrude look after the shop. Her drunkard father is dying in Addenbrooke's hospital. She and Gertrude visit him.
Viola loses the competition - she was late. Henri wins, and invites her to be his deputy in Paris.
One year later - Matthieu and Hugo, in Paris, are led to Viola's cafe by Matthieu's brother, Francois. Jude talks to her dead sister Francis again. Francois drops into Gatsby's and falls in love with Jude. He had an affair in France with Francis. Is Getrude his daughter? Viola returns to Cambridge and starts a market stall. Matthieu sees her there. Having given up her career for him, she move in. Hugo gives her his mother's notebook of recipes.
Big dollops of whimsy. Not for me.
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