The best books with a little Parisian flair

This gripping mystery follows Antoine Rey, a recently divorced man navigating shared custody and raising teenagers who are stuck to their cellphones all day, as he and his sister begin to unravel secrets their mother took to her grave. At the heart of this novel is a mystery surrounding Antoine’s mother’s tragic death as a young woman and a burning question: Who is the woman in the video? Who was his mother, really? As the mystery unfolds Antoine and his sister Melanie learn that even the people we are closest to keep secrets. As revelations about the woman his mother really was, and insights into her untimely death unfold, Antoine is able to make better connections in his own life.

The city of Paris is teeming with life in this story. The novel unfolds with an even hand and we get a peek into what Parisian life is really like, not the idealized version. Antoine, his sister Melanie and the other characters live in a Paris of running off to work and scheduling playdates. The city is a city that is lived in, not simply gazed at from a touristy afar, which is why this is one of my favorite novels that takes place in Paris.

This novel is about Americans in Paris, actually many of them…and most of them are famous. The Paris Wife follows Hadley (Richardson) Hemmingway and her time in Paris with her husband Ernest, the famous writer. Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald pay calls on the Hemmingway household, along with Fitzgerald’s wild wife, Zelda. This novel is a celebration of Americans in Paris and touches on themes such as the artist's calling and how motherhood can change a marriage. Hadley is a compelling and sympathetic character and seeing Paris in the 1920s through her eyes is a magical experience.

Though I sometimes dub this novel the book with a million endings, I loved seeing WWII Paris (and the French seaside) through the eyes of a brilliant blind girl and a sympathetic German with a knack for working with radio equipment. This story is told through the eyes of two narrators, Marie, a blind French girl and Werner, a poor German soldier trying to survive the war. As the two get closer and closer their fates entwine, and the down-and-out Paris of the WWII years truly shines as a beacon of strength for both children.

This biography of the famous French authoress Collette explores the sensuously Parisian life of the famed and inflammatory author. It explores many of her sensuous love affairs along with her fabulous accomplishments. This biography marches through time in Paris, from the Belle Epoch to the lean years of the World Wars, to the shining beacon Paris became in the later half of the twentieth century. Through the life of the indomitable authoress Collette, the city of Paris truly sparkles as we see that her history is so entwined with the city’s history.

David is an expatriate American living in Paris as he wrestles with dislocation. David attempts to free himself of the shame of being a gay man in America in the 1950s by living very far away, in a city that feels more tolerant. The novel follows David as he laments his relationships with other men, especially an Italian bartender named Giovanni that he’s partial to. The city of Paris is seen as a new start in the old world, an accepting place where he can finally be himself. It explores issues of race, sexual orientation, and social class. Baldwin always gets to me and this book shows that sometimes running away from home doesn’t fix all your problems.