Review: Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico
A London cleaning lady. Her dream to own a Dior gown. And her unforgettable trip.
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Vintage Fiction | Novella
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico
Description
Mrs. Ada Harris is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the rich. One day, when tidying Lady Dant's wardrobe, Mrs. Harris comes across the most beautiful thing she has ever seen: a Dior dress. She then scrimps and saves for three long years to have enough money to go to Paris. When she arrives at the House of Dior to buy a dream dress of her own, Mrs. Harris has little idea of how her life is about to be turned upside down.
My Thoughts
Oh my very goodness! Where has this extraordinary little 20th-century fairy tale been all my millennial life?
Ada Harris is a wonder in her spunk, determination, and imperfections. Imperfections indeed, as she's got a temper sometimes and may mouth off when vexed. She also has a thing for inventing falsehoods (even as she doesn't like to cross her self-prescribed line between "fibs" and "lies").
But, oh, what a journey this turns out to be, just by Mrs. Harris being herself. I was fairly entertained by this light, clever, and quirky read for a while—and then along through all of the little turns and twists, the downs that did some tugging on my heart and the ups that made my heart sparkle—goodness. I can pinpoint the exact moment when I realized I was falling in love with this story.
I won't mention which moment it was, out of respect for those of you who haven't read the book yet. But, oh! My very heart. At several points, I had to stop reading so that I could just sit there and smile and be in my warm and sparkly feelings.
The small miracles, when human understanding would spring up along the way, drew me in. And once I was up on my toes, the story kept me right up there to the very end, to the closing of Mrs. Harris's meaningful journey and what she takes away from it.
This fairy tale was more than a fairy tale for me. Reading it was an experience. One that spoke to me and has me using exclamation points and bold italics a bit more than I usually do in a book review.
Content notes: This is actually a two-book volume that also contains a sequel, Mrs. Harris Goes to New York. While I enjoyed that book as well, I wouldn’t quite classify it as a gentle read. The story addresses child abuse: most of which happens off-screen, except for one slap. There's also a character in New York who uses some coarse language, including a few uses of the N-word, though the narrative doesn't fail to call him out on "his prejudices."
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