by Graham Robb
First published 2010
Graham Robb excavates the hidden stories of Paris from the French Revolution to modern times. He uncovers extraordinary true tales that outpace any novel. A young Napoleon Bonaparte encounters a courtesan in the Palais-Royal and later writes a detailed account of his first sexual experience. Marie-Antoinette flees the Louvre but becomes lost in the Left Bank's unmarked streets. The absence of accurate maps seals her fate at the guillotine. Robb assembles a remarkable cast including Baudelaire, Baron Haussmann, the real woman who inspired La Bohème's Mimi, Proust, and Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle may have staged his own assassination attempt at Notre Dame. Through these interwoven narratives, Robb reveals the Paris that exists beneath the familiar landmarks. He transforms historical figures into flesh and blood people navigating love, ambition, survival, and death in the world's most storied city.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, intimate
Setting: Paris, Palais-Royal, Left Bank, Notre Dame
Period: French Revolution, Modern Times
496 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company