Lisette’s Paris Notebook, by Catherine Bateson

On a gap year after finishing school, Lisette travels to Paris to spend three months soaking up the city’s art. She is fulfilling her mother’s dreams rather than her own, but just a few weeks in Paris sees her finding her own feet and making her own decisions. The story has some interesting and quirky elements, including a focus on fashion as art. The lived experience of Paris is convincing, unfortunately the characters and emotions not so much as both lack depth. This is not helped by the sloppiness of the editing and proofreading, which has left several names of key characters wrong. Such sloppiness is becoming more common in modern publishing and is both intensely annoying and likely to get even worse as standards drop and those making the money don’t care.