The Pear Affair

Judith Eagle's The Pear Affair is a Paris adventure for 10 year olds about a girl who goes looking for the one grown-up who ever really loved her.

What happens

Nell's parents named her after a handbag. They love the handbag more. Gerald and Melinda Magnificent run a supermarket empire, forget to collect her from boarding school and call her a "tiresome sneak" when she's hungry.

The bright spot in Nell's life used to be Pear, the au pair from Paris who looked after her when she was little. Pear taught her French, map-reading and sewing. For five years she wrote every month in turquoise ink, always promising to come and rescue her.

Then, in December 1968, the letters stopped.

So when her parents announce a business trip to Paris, Nell begs to go. She has an escape box under her bed full of maps and leaflets, and a plan. Find Pear. Never come home.

Paris is gorgeous (the grand hotel, proper hot chocolate, a madeleine in a cosy boiler room). It's also full of secrets. The fashion house where Pear worked swears it's never heard of her. A boy in the street says her building's been closed down. And Xavier, the cheeky bellboy who calls Nell a rich girl, disappears down a manhole in the hotel basement.

It's a very satisfying read. Nell's parents are so awful that you're completely on her side from the start. Xavier is great fun. And there's the promise of a whole hidden world under the city streets!

There's real sadness under the fun, though. Her mother says outright that Nell is unwanted baggage, and Nell has been scared of the dark ever since the day Pear left. A man at her parents' party punches a waiter. Her school punishes girls with a metal ruler across the hand.

If your reader likes a heroine who's a planner rather than a daredevil, they'll love Nell. She's done her homework, and she knows the Paris Métro map by heart.

What to read next

For another girl certain that a missing person is waiting somewhere in Paris, try Rooftoppers. Sophie was found floating in a cello case as a baby, and she's sure her mother is still out there.