My Wish List

A Novel

By: Gregoire Delacourt, Anthea Bell - translator

Narrated by: Jilly Bond

The #1 bestselling international phenomenon that asks, If you won the lottery, would you trade your life for the life of your dreams?

Jocelyne lives in a small town in France where she runs a fabric shop, has been married to the same man for twenty-one years, and has raised two children. She is beginning to wonder what happened to all those dreams she had when she was seventeen. Could her life have been different?

Then she wins the lottery—and suddenly finds the world at her fingertips. But she chooses not to tell anyone, not even her husband—not just yet. Without cashing the check, she begins to make a list of all the things she could do with the money. But does Jocelyne really want her life to change?

Critic reviews

“Delacourt’s appealing novel (a huge best seller in his native France) [is a] dark, suspenseful fable.” —The New York Times

“Fans of Chocolat and The Elegance of the Hedgehog will adore My Wish List, an emotionally wrenching yet ultimately uplifting story of ambition, risk, and acceptance. . . . Jocelyne is an immensely likable narrator, and Delacourt’s fluid, elegant prose brings layers of depth to a relatively simple story.” —Booklist, starred review

“Revelatory . . . with an unexpected twist that speaks volumes about the nature of truth, love and happiness.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review

“This dastardly little novel focuses on love, desire and what we stand to lose when we win. . . . [A book] the late novelist Josephine Hart might have written.” —Kirkus Reviews

“What is happiness, what can money buy, what happens to love? . . . [My Wish List] will attract . . . those who enjoyed Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog. . . . A sparse, understated, philosophical [novel with] appeal to male as well as female readers, and for literary fiction fans and book clubs.” —Library Journal

“[A] fable about how money changes everything, and nothing . . . The aching need for comfort, safety and love that it describes is universal.” —Publishers Weekly

What would it take to change your life?

My Wish List is a difficult book to rate and review. Delacourt stated that he wanted to write a book about what would it would take to change your life. He does this by having his protagonist, middle-aged Jocelyne, win the lottery, to the tune of €18.5 million. The story unwinds when Jocelyne doesn't tell anyone about her new fortune, not her husband, grown children, or the twin hairdressers that encouraged her to play the lottery. The only person that Jocelyne reveals her secret to is her father who has suffered a stroke and has only a six-minute memory span. Jocelyne leads an ordinary existence, running her own haberdashery shop in a provincial French town, but one she seems quite content in. After her lottery win, she begins to make lists of things she needs, but realizes that many of them are ordinary - a new lamp, a lovely wool and alpaca coat, a non-flowery shower curtain. Her husband wants "more" - a flat-screen TV, a Porsche, and all the James Bond movies on DVD. She is afraid that if she gives her husband everything he wants, he will no longer want her.

I don't want to reveal any more of the plot because that is something each reader should discover for themselves. While not a heartwarming, light read, this book is definitely thought-provoking!

Addendum: The title of the original French version seems to be The List of My Desires. It may be a small thing, but I think that title works much better.

I liked how easy it was

I liked how easy it was to get through. the start was pretty liberating.

Pretty good and easy read

A but simplistic but reads well. Maybe it’s better in French and for French audience but still good