The Devil Wears Prada and Feminist Fight Club meet in the Paris finance world in Paris Jungle, a novel of a mistreated woman who decides it's time to stand up and say #MeToo.
Wanda Julienne is living the dream in Paris. Until the sexual harassment starts... Wanda has it all - the perfect job, a passionate romance, and a lust for life. But when she returns to work from maternity leave, her world is turned upside down. Suddenly, everything she does is wrong, at least in the eyes of her bully of a boss. She's blamed for things she didn't do and is set up to take a very big fall. Add in a dose of unwanted sexual advances, and Wanda, who can't afford to lose her job, is trapped watching her dream life crumble around her.
To make matters worse, the problems at work spill over to her personal life as she pushes away her lover and her friends, and barely has time for her newborn baby.
Can Wanda survive the cut-throat world of finance and reconnect with the ones she loves to find her happy ever after in Paris?
"An insider's look inside the messy world of high finance-a kind of Devil Wears Prada for international investment firms-Paris Jungle also delivers a poignant modern love story set in Paris. What's not to love?" - Award-winning author Amy Impellizzeri
This novel can be read as a standalone or as part of the From Paris to Provence series. Each book in the series brings to life its own unique characters yet all books share the vibrant and captivating setting of France.
Previously published as The Creepshow.
Interview with the Author What was your inspiration to write Paris Jungle? I was inspired by the current situation women face in the workplace. I feel that I've experienced discrimination in the past, and most women I've spoken with say they've also experienced it at some point or another in their careers. In so many fields and on so many levels, women fight to earn the same salaries and opportunities as male counterparts. And the situation becomes particularly complicated for many women once they have children.
It sounds almost like a true story! But it's fictional, right? Now that's a compliment! I strive to make my characters and their situations believable. This is indeed a work of fiction, but the protagonist, Wanda, is going through something many women today face, which makes the book seem pretty realistic, especially in light of the #MeToo movement. One of my favorite nonfiction books about women in the workplace and in leadership roles is Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook.
Some of the themes are heavy. Can you describe some of the lighter aspects of the book as well? Wanda rekindles a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who also is the father of her baby. Throughout the book she struggles with the usual concerns of someone in a new relationship. There is also a strong theme of friendship as Wanda seeks comfort with her best friend.
What do you hope readers will take away from this novel? I hope they will take away strength to fight when faced with any sort of injustice, and hope, always hope.
So this book is part of a series? Yes and no. Each novel in the From Paris to Provence series brings to life its own unique characters and can be read as a standalone, but all books share the vibrant and captivating setting of France:
- A Perfumer's Secret
- Paris, Rue des Martyrs
- Paris Jungle
If you like reading about strong female protagonists who do all they can to fight unfair working circumstances, you'll enjoy this novel. Thanks for reading!
About the Author: Adria J. Cimino lives in Paris with her husband Didier, daughter Phèdre and son Orphée, and writes about her real-life adventures at AdriaJCimino.com and on Twitter @Adria_in_Paris. When she isn't writing, you can find Adria at her neighborhood café watching the world go by.
Adria is the author of the Amazon best-selling novel Paris, Rue des Martyrs, which is part of the From Paris to Provence series along with A Perfumer's Secret and Paris Jungle. She is also the author of Close to Destiny, a magical love story. Adria co-founded boutique publishing house Velvet Morning Press in 2014. Prior to jumping into the publishing world full time, she spent more than a decade as a journalist at news organizations including The AP and Bloomberg News.
