Word: ren
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...NATHANAEL REN...
...Frederick, so studious, so sagacious, had chosen to marry a high-strung London beauty like Felicity.To avoid these musings, Roxanna shook her head, setting her buttercup curls a-bouncing. Why worry about anything on such a beautiful day, she told herself. She was in Florence! “Fi-ren-ze,” she exclaimed rapturously, unconscious of the adorable pout of her rosebud lips as she mouthed the syllables.Once inside, Roxanna went directly to Frederick’s study. He liked to have the first taste of the bread directly from the market. He would hold the loaf...
...widow, short, ugly, chubby; I have bunions on my feet and, on certain difficult mornings, it seems, the breath of a mammoth," Renée says by way of introduction. "But above all, I conform to the image assigned to concierges. It would never occur to anyone that I am better read than all these self-satisfied rich people...
...novel is not Renée's alone. It also features the precocious 12-year-old Paloma, the daughter of one of the rich couples in Renée's building. A youthful idealist, she too is dismayed by the petty posturing of the gifted, privileged adults around her; so dismayed, in fact, that she intends to commit suicide by her 13th birthday. As the two characters' lives overlap, Paloma comes to discover Renée's secret gifts, and to appreciate her self-effacing elder as having "the elegance of a hedgehog: a real fortress, bristling with quills...
...brings Renée out of her shell and guides young Paloma toward realizing that not all adults sacrifice their intelligence and humanity to vanity, Barbery demonstrates her own deep love and command of art, philosophy, and literature. Indeed, Elegance can be a bit intimidating when Renée's philosophical references and brainier ruminations run thick. In the end, however, the novel wins over its fans with a life-affirming message, a generous portion of heart and Barbery's frequently wicked sense of humor...