Alicia Drake

I Love You Too Much Alicia Drake

Set in the heart of Left-Bank Paris, this is the story of Paul, a lonely, quiet boy who makes an astonishing discovery and confronts that brutal turning point in adolescence when he learns he must leave the privileges of naivety behind. Thirteen-year-old Paul is a lovable but unloved boy on the vulnerable cusp of manhood. Paul lives in Paris, in a world of privilege where beauty dominates, adults are intent on their own satisfaction, and everything looks perfect. There's nowhere to get dirty, or so it appears. His mother is glamorous and powerful, distracted by a younger lover and her own fear of aging. His wealthy father is desperately seeking to assuage his endless discontent. Paul lives between the two apartments of his broken family, looked after by a Filipino babysitter who hasn't seen her own children in years. When Paul meets Scarlett, a beguiling classmate, he uncovers the cruel gulf between the world as it is and how he imagined it to be. It's only a matter of time before Paul witnesses a shocking event and inherits a burden he's far too young to shoulder. A dazzling coming-of-age story, I Love You Too Much is a devastating literary debut born from the saying, Je t'aime trop: a distinctly French expression of excessive love. In a world of abundance, a Paris where parents don't always mean what they say, Paul must look beyond his glamorous home to find a love that's real.