Philadelphia - September 16, 2009

Francey Pants

"Dreaming in French," by Megan McAndrew

Four years of high school French, and all you’ve got down is oui, non, and une baguette s’il vous plaît.

Merde.

Better escape into someone else’s world of franglais. Namely Charlotte Sanders’s, the precocious 15-year-old central character in Megan McAndrew’s Dreaming in French.

Charlotte’s life in ’70s Paris is a mixed bag of cultures and emotions: Her father is a stoic figure from a society family, and Astrid, her mother, is an American and extreme leftist. When Astrid’s extramarital affair and political involvement get her into trouble, Charlotte’s family falls apart. She’s left to decide between staying in France with her dad or returning to New York with her batty mom.

What comes next is a sophisticated coming-of-age story that follows Charlotte through college, work, and the early ’80s punk scene.

None of which will get lost in translation.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.