Paris, Baby!

"Paris, Baby!" is the natural next entry in a genre that's previously been focused on finding love or the right baguette in the 7th. It's richly textured and full of details of what it's really like to be a single mum-to-be in a city where chic is supposed to be effortless and breastfeeding is a horreur. Lobe's keen sense of humour turns on herself just as much as on her Parisian neighbours: from becoming so visibly enceinte that her patisserie refuses to sell her a morning croissant ('C'est pas tres elegante, Madame!' exclaims the patissiere, casting an eye down to Lobe's waistline) to how she handled a pick-up attempt by a married man in the baby department of the posh Bon Marche at 8 months along. Paris is full of delights for a new mum - the Luxembourg Gardens, the baby boutique Natalys, a jambon fromage for a teething tot - but home in the Midwest exerts a pull, too. Should it be 'Mummy' or 'Maman'? And can a tall blonde with a designer-stuffed closet, a cockeyed way of looking at the world and a taste for Pol Roger ever make it in the land of mum jeans and Happy Meals? "Paris, Baby!" is a winning, warm, funny memoir about every girl's three favourite topics: Paris, babies, and making it on one's own.