The genre of Paris books — whether non-fiction studies about the City of Light, or novels set in the French capital — is an eternally popular one, and 2023 has continued to see the category expand. Below is a crème de la crème of this year’s Paris reads; whether vividly informative or seductively escapist, they […]
Paris History
The Iconic Maria Callas and her Operatic Parisian Life
Legendary soprano Maria Callas — surely the very definition of the word diva — was born a century ago. In many ways, Maria seems timeless, eternal — such was her artistic impact on the world. In fact, she died way too young: in 1977 at the age of 53, in her Paris apartment at 36 […]
In Search of the Paris of Napoléon Bonaparte
Napoléon Bonaparte is never far from the cultural imagination; he is arguably the most famous French person of all time. But the one-time Emperor of France is back in the news in a big way, thanks to the release of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. While the movie was mostly filmed in England, Malta, and Morocco, you […]
In Search of the Paris of Edith Wharton
Author Edith Wharton, whose social novels gently critiqued the morals and manners of Manhattan’s Gilded Age, might be forever linked to her birth city of New York, but she was at heart and soul a Parisienne, residing in the French capital and then countryside for her final thirty years of life — from 1907 to […]