Kavita Daswani Salaam, Paris

Salaam, Paris

Kavita Daswani

Plume, Jul 2006, $14.00

ISBN: 0452287464

After seeing Audrey Hepburn star in the original Sabrina, Tanaya Shah yearns to visit Paris, which looked so enticing and exciting in the movie, but knows her Muslim family would never allow her to go especially unescorted to the decadent west. When her family arranges for her to marry Tariq Khan, who already lives in Paris, Tanaya agrees with one stipulation; they meet in Paris before they wed to see if they are reasonably compatible. He is her ticket to seeing Sabrina's world.

However, Tanaya proves devious as she has no plans to marry her chosen mate. Instead she ditches him and the wedding plans to become part of the city. Shockingly, Tanaya becomes a highly regarded supermodel, but her behavior as she hobnobs with the decadent music and modeling industries lead to her family disowning it her. When she meets Tariq again, she has second thoughts about her blithe decision to dump him as she now wants to marry him and through him reconcile with her family, but fears he will not forgive her.

SALAAM, PARIS is a well written character study that plays out on two levels; on the one hand it is a coming of age tale while on the other it is a clash between traditional values and outside values in a shrinking world. Though Tanaya seems a bit selfish with how she initially treats Tariq, readers will forgive her as they realize that she did not mean to hurt him or disobey her family,; all she wanted was to see Paris through the eyes of her heroine. Tanaya is right that if you have not seen the original Sabrina you are missing a great romance.

Harriet Klausner