Kathy Hamilton Today we’re taking an imaginary stroll through some arrondissements and rues via the best books set in Paris! France’s Capital City has long been upheld as the arbiter of fashion, culture and food in the western world. So it makes sense that so many magnificent books are set in this melting pot of life.
Paris. Is there any city in the world more ingrained in our imaginations? Part of its allure is the variety of each densely packed arrondissements. Despite its grandiose architecture and bustling tourists the city feels “lived in”. So, no matter how many times you visit you will always discover a brand new city, filled with mystery and romance.
The same is true of its literature. Each of the books selected in this list of best books set in Paris shows the city in a new light. From swashbuckling adventure to modern life in an estate, I’ve tried to show Paris in all of its guises.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway’s charts the author’s memories of life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties. Deeply personal, warmly affectionate and full of wit. Looking back, he recalls the time when, poor, happy and writing in cafes, he and others around him like James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis and the Fitzgeralds discovered their vocations.
Why You Should Read it
Hemingway wrote, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Known for his sparse prose, nevertheless, A Moveable Feast is a stunning memoir of a Paris. In recent years, A Moveable Feast has evolved into a testament of Parisian life and culture. After the recent tragic attacks on Paris, Hemingway’s memoir sold out in most Parisian bookshops. A perfect start to the best books set in Paris
The Paris Wife by Paula McClain
Hadley Richardson is a shy twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love. Then she meets Ernest Hemingway. Captivated by his energy, intensity and burning ambition to write she marries him after a whirlwind courtship. They move to glamorous Jazz Age Paris, full of artists and writers, fuelled by alcohol and gossip. But it’s is no place for family life and fidelity. Ernest and Hadley’s marriage begins to founder, and the birth of a beloved son serves only to drive them further apart.
Why You Should Read It
If like me, you find yourself fascinated by the women in history. The ones who occupy the shadowy position behind great men then, this is the book for you. The Paris Wife is the female counterpart to A Moveable Feast. Told from the point of view of Ernest Hemingway’s wife, Hadley Richardson, and provides a fictional account of their life at odds with the life shown in his own work.
Just Like Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
Fifteen-year-old Doria isn’t in a good place. Or to be precise: she’s in the sadly misnamed Paradise Estate on the outskirts of Paris. Her father has gone off back Morocco to find a wife who can give him a boy, and her illiterate, non-French speaking mother has to fend for herself with a cleaning job. Still, it could be worse: Doria could be like Samra, the girl in the flat above, whose father doesn’t let her out, or Youssef who has been banged up for a year for dealing in drugs and stolen cars. At least she gets a free weekly session with psychologist Mrs Burland, who is about the only person who listens, even if she doesn’t quite understand.
Why You Should Read It
In this brilliantly poignant and street-wise first novel, Faiza Guene creates an unforgettable voice. Doria is both clued up and innocent, acutely aware of what’s in store for her and powerless to change it. She is funny, clever and tragically trapped. Whilst many of us imagine Paris as a romantic city of bright lights, croissants and achingly stylish people this book offers a different perspective.
Tarr by Wyndham Lewis
Tarr by Wyndham Lewis tells the blackly comic story of the lives and loves of two artists, played out against the backdrop of Paris before the start of the First World War – the English enfant terrible Frederick Tarr, and the middle-aged German Otto Kreisler, a failed painter who finds himself in a widening spiral of militaristic self-destruction. This novel sets the scene for a scathing satire of national and social pretensions, the fraught relationship between men and women, and the incompatibilities of art and life.
Why You Should Read It
Tarr occupies a strange place in literary fiction. Somewhat ahead of its time yet somehow uncomfortable with the shaking off the past. It was written at the dawn of modernism but set in the final years before WWI. It concerns itself with how, or why, artists create art. Featuring a cohort of eccentric, fascinating and often unlikeable characters. I chose this one for our list of Best Books Set in Paris because it offers readers a glimpse into an artistic community that would be irrevocably changed by the atrocities of war. Paris without the glitter, but a compelling read none the less.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Rene is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. She maintains a carefully constructed persona. As someone uncultivated but reliable, in keeping with what she feels a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Rene: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Rene lives with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse, determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, decides on ending her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever
Why You Should Read It
The simplicity of the plot is the magic of The Elegance of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. This is the kind of book that delivers profound truths about the choices we make and the way they change our lives. It is filled with intelligent humour, an excellent literary and philosophical backdrop, as well as taste that is sophisticated but substantial. In other words the quintessential Parisian read! When it comes to curating a list of the best books set in Paris, or any other, it can be tempting to stick to the old classics. However, I think it’s important to offer contemporary as well as historical views of any city I cover. That’s why The Elegance of the Hedgehog makes the list. Modern French writing at its best.
The Ladies’ Paradise, by Emile Zola
The Ladies’ Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteenth century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family. It is also emblematic of consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century. Octave Mouret, the store’s owner-manager, masterfully exploits the desires of his female customers. In his private life as much as in business he is the great seducer. But when he falls in love with the innocent Denise Baudu, he discovers she is the only one of the salesgirls who refuses to be commodified.
Why You Should Read It
I think some novels are designed for older people, who come to them with experience on their side. The Ladies’ Paradise by Emile Zola is one of those books. On the surface, a novel about a department store hardly seems like it will be gripping, gritty and fraught with uncomfortable truths. And yet this is what Zola achieves in his ruthless depiction of Capitalism and Big Business. Perfect for readers who love Classics with a little bite and want something different to sink their teeth into.
Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky
Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Française falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Francaise is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places.
Why You Should Read It
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky was planned as a series of novels that would track the Second World War to its conclusion. Irène began writing during the war but, in a tragic turn of events, as a French writer of Ukranian- Jewish origin, she lost her life in the Holocaust. She left behind a series of personal belongings, amongst them – a notebook which lay undiscovered for sixty years. It was in this notebook that her daughters discovered the first two books of the planned series. Suite française won the Prix Renaudot in 2004 -the first time that the prize has been awarded posthumously.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Les Miserables is one of the great works of western literature. Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean. An escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat. Owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged Inspector Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free though. He has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.
Why You Should Read It
I mean really, you knew this book was coming right? Could we have a list of best books set in Paris without Les Miserables by Victor Hugo? He is to French Literature what Charlese Dickens is to English Literature. It’s the kind of novel that is probably on all of our reading lists! A behemoth, but if you’ve ever felt like dedicating months at a time to a single book then, this is the one for you! The novel is one of the longest ever written. Coming in at over 1,500 pages in English and a staggering 1,900 in French. Hugo explained his reasoning by saying “I don’t know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone.“. And considering the regard the novel is still held in, it’s fair to say he achieved his goal!
Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant
Young, attractive and very ambitious and known to his admirers as Bel-Ami. George Duroy gets offered a job as a journalist on La Vie Francaise and soon makes a great success of his new career. But he also comes face to face with the realities of the corrupt society in which he lives. The sleazy colleagues, the manipulative mistresses and wily financiers. He swiftly learns to become an arch-seducer, blackmailer and social climber in a world where love is only a means to an end.
Why You Should Read It
Bel-Ami was written when Maupassant was at the height of his powers. Incredibly frank and cynical. Yet infused with the sheer joy of life – it depicts Paris in the belle epoque with wit, sensitivity and humanity. Despite the historical setting, Bel-Ami still feels surprisingly modern – perhaps even more so in our era of corrupt politicians and scandalous journalism. For me, the belle epoque epitomises Paris in my imagination. So including this book on my list of best books set in Paris seemed ideal.
The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
Young d’Artagnan arrives in Paris to join King’s Louis XIII’s elite guards. But almost immediately finds he is duelling with some of the very men he has come to swear allegiance to. Porthos, Athos and Aramis, inseparable friends: the Three Musketeers. Soon part of their close band, d’Artagnan’s loyalty to his new allies puts him in the deadly path of Cardinal Richelieu’s machinations. And when the young hero falls in love with the beautiful but inaccessible Constance, he finds himself in a world of murder, conspiracy and lies. With only the Musketeers to depend on.
Why You Should Read It
The final book on this list of best books set in Paris! And another massive classic at around 700 pages long. It’s also the only book on this list to deal with Paris as it was before the Revolution. If you’re like me, you’ve probably watched the Three Musketeers but have never read it. It’s time to change that! If you want a book you can get lost in. Full of twists and turns. And with characters you hate to love and love to hate, you need to read this! Some critics see the book, not as d’Artagnan’s tale of passion, friendship and romantic rescue but as Athos’s terse-lipped story of tainted or damaged love. Either way, it’s a highly readable classic that more than surpasses the film versions!
That Rounds up The Best Books Set in Paris
As usual, there are some brilliant books that didn’t quite make the cut. Hopefully, though, you find this list of best books set in Paris inspiring. Because the next best thing to actually visiting the city is to indulge in some literary tourism instead! I’m curious, who books would be on your list?
