The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

It's about the love you can experience when you connect with strangers. Rather, it's about the love of one's friends. But not the sappy, head-over-heels variety. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER INDIEBOUND TOP TEN BESTSELLER A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A BARNES AND NOBLE BET BOOK OF THE YEAR A CHICAGO SUN-TIMES FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR Praise for The Elegance of the Hedgehog 'Gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bitersweet.' -Michael Dirda, The Washington Post ' The Elegance of the Hedgehog is about love. bestows lightness on the most ponderous cogitations.''-The New Yorker' ''The narrators' kinetic minds and engaging voices (in Alison Anderson's fluent translation) propel us ahead.''-The New York Times Book Review ''Barbery's sly wit. But after a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building, they will begin to recognize each other as kindred souls, in a novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us, and ''teaches philosophical lessons by shrewdly exposing rich secret lives hidden beneath conventional exteriors'' (Kirkus Reviews). Paloma and Renee hide their true talents and finest qualities from a world they believe cannot or will not appreciate them. Until then, she will continue hiding her extraordinary intelligence behind a mask of mediocrity, acting the part of an average pre-teen high on pop culture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. Talented and precocious, she's come to terms with life's seeming futility and decided to end her own on her thirteenth birthday. Paloma is a twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor. With biting humor, she scrutinizes the lives of the tenants-her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth. But Renee has a secret: she furtively, ferociously devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture.

In short, she's everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in an upscale neighborhood. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo.

In an elegant hotel particulier in Paris, Renee, the concierge, is all but invisible-short, plump, middle-aged, with bunions on her feet and an addiction to television soaps.

' ''An exquisite book in the form of a philosophical fable that has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers.''-Elle (Italy) The phenomenal New York Times bestseller that ''explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building'' (Publishers Weekly).

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery