Juliette's "almost cloistered, gentle, humdrum existence" has a few bright moments every day. Although she is the girl who reads on the Métro, she often studies her traveling companions instead of her coffee-stained paperback. She imagines their stories based on what they're reading, entertaining herself before settling into her tedious office job.
In an uncharacteristic burst of curiosity, one morning Juliette takes a new path from the Métro, beginning her transformation from office worker to passeur. She discovers a door propped open with a book, under a metal nameplate reading "Books Unlimited," and can't resist entering. There she meets a frail man and a precocious child who assume she is applying to be a book-giver. The shop is crammed with books of all types, and Soliman, the owner, explains that passeurs are people who study strangers until they intuit the book each one needs.
The fairytale-like plot encompasses mystery, tragedy and joy. Befriending Soliman and his daughter, Zaide, Juliette embraces their world of old books and contemplates carrying on the Books Unlimited mission. She decides that she--the girl who peeks over her book on the Métro to observe what others read--is a natural passeur. In the spirit of The Little Paris Bookshop and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Christine Féret-Fleury's short novel is a charming homage to the power of books and reading. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco