The Little Paris Bookshop

The Lavender Room in Perdu’s apartment symbolizes his time spent with Manon and his grief in losing her. In a testament to The Impact of Loss and Grief, Perdu has blocked off the room with a bookshelf and has not opened the room since Manon left him 21 years ago. The room’s name was chosen by Manon, inspired by the color of the walls, and by the plant, which is popular in her home region of Provence. The room was a happy place where the two spent a lot of time together: “There were candlesticks and whispering, full wineglasses and music. Dancing shadows on the wall, one of them tall, one of them strikingly beautiful. There had been love in this room” (4).

When Perdu opens the room, he is symbolically opening himself up to the memories of Manon. Once that happens, he is forced to confront his grief, and instead of choosing to shut himself off again, he chooses to undertake a journey that brings him back to the joy he felt in that room with Manon.