The Countess wants her perfectly drawn espresso at the perfect moment. Emma, her aged Labrador, requires endless pampering. And the streets of Paris are impossibly complicated, the shopkeepers rude. Fatima, fresh from Tunisia, in her orange djellaba, is a sh out of water and nursing a broken heart to boot. Sent to replace her late sister as a maid to the demanding Countess, she left her lovely native island feeling a heady mixture of liberation and fear, and now she faces impossible challenges and frightening surprises round every corner. With the help of her flamboyant new American friend, Hadley Hadley III, and the eccentric habitus of the local Caf Jean Valjean, Fatima begins to nd herself and work her magic. And when a shy hotel night clerk captures her heart, Fatima discovers her right place in her new world and nally blossoms. This heartwarming rst novel from husband-and-wife team Joanne and Gerry Dryansky is an enchanting parable on the enduring power of kindness in an unpredictable world.