Paris Syndrome

For fans of John Green, this funny and poignant coming-of-age story is about that crazy thing called love. And how it can be found anywhere.

Happiness (Happy) Glass has been a loner since moving to Brisbane and yet still dreams about living in Paris with her best friend Rosie after they finish Year Twelve. But Rosie hasn't been terribly reliable lately.

When Happy wins a French essay competition, her social life starts looking up. She meets the eccentric Professor Tanaka and her girl-gardener Alex who recruit Happy in their fight against Paris Syndrome - an ailment that afflicts some visitors to Paris. Their quest for a cure gives Happy an excellent excuse to pursue a good-looking French tourism intern, also called Alex. To save confusion she names the boy Alex One and the girl Alex Two.

As Happy pursues her love of all things French, Alex Two introduces Happy to her xylophone-playing chickens whose languishing Facebook page Happy sponsors.

But then sex messes things up when, confusingly, Happy ends up kissing both of the Alex's. Soon neither of them is speaking to her and she has gone from two Alex's to none ...

About the Author

Lisa Walker lives on the far north coast of NSW where she is completing a PhD in creative writing. Lisa has had a radio play produced for ABC RN and was the winner of the Byron Writers Festival short story award. She was a finalist in the ABC Short Story Award and won second placed in the Henry Savery and Port Stephens Literature Awards. Lisa is the author of Liar Bird (HarperCollins, 2012) and Sex, Lies and Bonsai (HarperCollins, 2013) and her debut YA novel is called Paris Syndrome (HarperCollins 2018).