Mathilde Carre joined the French Resistance in 1940 but was captured by the Germans a year later and betrayed her network. She survived working as as a double agent and then - possibly - a t... read more
SOE sent more than 400 agents into France of whom 39 were women. Vigurs traces them all here, not just the well known ones, and sets them in their context.
A brilliant hour-by-hour recreation of what happened on 27 July 1794, from the midnight when Robespierre was in full control to the midnight when he was on the run.
Begins with a Perec epigraph: "De l'autobus, je regarde Paris" - and Elkin does, in a diary of vignettes about the 'infra-ordinary' (Perec again): fellow commuters, a diversion, a girl with ... read more
A hotchpotch of journal entries from the last seven years to do with living around Paris, surprisingly free of the angst found in much of her other writing.
A monograph on one of the most extraordinary French châteaux. Built in the C17th, Vaux-le-Vicomte was designed by Louis Le Vau in collaboration with the painter Charles Le Brun and the land... read more
For those who would sell their soul for an éclair. Mille-feuilles for autumn, croissants for Sunday mornings, crêpes for tea, cakes and puddings so sublime your hips will forgive you.
Artisan trades of Paris - a ribbon maker, the boiseries of Feau et Cie, pastel crayons still rolled as they were in the time of Degas, etc., presented by a designer, artist and shopkeeper. M... read more
A fictional portrait of the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - pilot, aristocrat and author of Le Petit Prince. Iturbe's last novel, The Librarian of Auschwitz, was a huge success.
Everyday at least for that great patroness... loved not least because she paid her bills on time. This illustrated chronology of the porcelain, its commissioning and use, is a magnificent bo... read more
A powerful coming-of-age story - and its consequences for others - by the French-Mauritian writer who won the Prix Femina des Lyceens for The Tropic of Violence.
The spark for this remarkable memoir was a scribbled list of paintings that belonged to the Parisian author's great-grandparents - Degas, Renoir, Monet, Tiepolo etc - of which she knew nothi... read more