Hello there. I don’t think we’ve met properly, not like this anyway. I’m Nessy. anks for picking me up off the bookshelf. I know there are a lot of books and guidebooks and bestselling books about Paris, but I thought this city needed something in between. I’m almost certain you and I have one thing in common. We are not tourists. We don’t hop on bus tours, never head straight for the major landmarks or settle for the same experience as everyone else. We are insatiably curious. We’re even a little too nosey at times, but we are not tourists and this is not a guidebook. ink of me more as your new companion, your closest Parisian con dante, your endless bottle of wine while in Paris. ese pages are yours now. Dog-ear them, circle stuff and doodle something wherever I take a pause on the page. is is your living Parisian scrapbook, a place to fill with memories, moments and mishaps as we wander the streets of this enchanting city together.
Perhaps you have already found me on the internet – that little corner of the worldwide web where I planted my ag a few years ago and called it Messy Nessy Chic. I write about the unusual, the unknown and the unsung from my room with a view here in Paris, or sometimes from the café downstairs. Over the years, I’ve received hundreds of emails and behind each and every one of those electronic letters is a story of a character coming to Paris feeling a certain way, hoping to feel a different way.
When it came time, it seemed to me like this was the only way I could write a book about Paris – not laid out by arrondissement, or by the hours of the day, or categorised by a type of activity. is book had to be written around a person’s mood; around the cards that life has dealt when you wake up on any given day. And as we know, moods can change from one day to the next, shifting our tastes, style and interests, like a moveable feast: like Paris.
Each chapter of this book is inspired by an email I’ve received from a reader. Try on every character for size, and every one of them will lead you down a unique Parisian rabbit hole. This book is for all those unanswered emails...
