Ina Caro
The Road from the Past, Traveling through History in France
Time travel through France by way of its finest castles, chateaux, cathedrals and monasteries. This unusual travelogue is an invaluable companion for traveling in Paris, southern France, the Dordogne and the Loire Valley, combining personal observation with large doses of well-presented history.
Mary Gordon
Joan of Arc
In elegant, insightful prose, novelist Gordon meditates on the courageous and complex young girl and the iconic status she has acquired.
William Rodarmor (Editor)
France, A Traveler’s Literary Companion
This collection contains literary gems from all corners of France by a select group of 20th-century French writers from Colette to Simenon.
Eyewitness Guides
Eyewitness Guide France
This superb guide to all of France features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country’s attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to date, this is the guide to carry.
Michelin
France Map
A colorful, accurate and up-to-date map of France at a scale of 1:1,000,000.
Mike Gerrard
DK Eyewitness Top Ten Paris
A compact, illustrated guide in the popular series, featuring favorite attractions. With handy pullout map.
Marie-Helene Girard, Anny Monet
Lonely Planet French Phrasebook
This handy phrasebook focuses on pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler.
Waverly Root
The Food of France
An evocative and beautifully written survey of French food. First published in 1958 and revised in the mid-1970s, the book covers the important regions of French cuisine by dividing them into domains of Butter (northern France), Fat (Alsace) and Oil (the south).
Stephen Ambrose
D-Day June 6, 1944
Written by the best-selling historian Stephen Ambrose, this well-researched narrative draws together interviews and government documents to tell the gripping tale of D-Day.
Joan Dejean
How Paris Became Paris, The Invention of the Modern City
A vibrant chronicle of how Parisian rulers transformed the city into a cosmopolitan metropolis.
Amy Kelly
Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings
A spirited, meticulously researched chronicle that recreates the life and world of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 12th-century Europe. A Harvard University Press Classic, first published in 1950.
Eric Sander (Photographer), Adrien Goet
Monet at Giverny
Illustrated with photographs from all seasons, this profile of Monet’s home in Normandy takes readers into the artist’s life and sanctuary. Adrien Goet explains how the home and gardens were designed, where Monet spent his time and much more.
Henry Brooks Adams
Mont Saint Michel and Chartres
First published at the turn of the century, this classic work is a meditation on the medieval world as reflected through its most famous religious structures.
Jean-Benoit Nadeau, Julie Barlow
Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong
Two Canadian journalists tackle the contradictions and complexities of the French character, paying particular attention to the question of why the French resist globalization.
Carola Hicks
The Bayeux Tapestry, The Life Story of a Masterpiece
Art historian Hicks investigates the production and politics of the Bayeux Tapestry, tracing its survival from medieval times through the present day.
Stephen O’Shea
The Friar of Carcassonne
O’Shea (The Perfect Heresy) turns the tale of Friar Bernard Delicieux and a city that stood against Pope Boniface VIII, Machiavellian French King Philip the Fair and grand inquisitor Bernard Gui into a thrilling tale of resistance in medieval Languedoc.
Gregory Curtis
The Cave Painters
In this tale of art, paleontology and discovery, Curtis introduces the masterworks of cave art in France and Spain, visiting Altamira, Lascaux, Les Trois-Freres, Cosquer, Chauvet and others.
Adam Gopnik
Paris to the Moon
Gopnik writes with candor and humor about Paris and Parisian ways in these charming reflections on adapting to life in glorious exile.
Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast
A treasure for anyone interested in Parisian cafe society and its luminaries circa 1925. Hemingway includes sharp portraits of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others who idled on their way to greatness.
Mort Rosenblum
The Secret Life of the Seine
After losing his Paris apartment, Rosenblum, a born storyteller, takes to a houseboat moored on the Seine. The result is this entertaining tour of the places and people he encounters during his explorations along the river.
Stephanie Cowell
Claude & Camille, A Novel of Monet
You can practically smell the paint in Stephanie Cowell’s lyrical novel — peopled by not just Claude Monet and the love of his life, Camille, but also by his friends Bazille, Renoir, Pissaro and Manet.
Michelle Wan
Deadly Slipper
Wan crafts a suspenseful, elegant tale of food, romance and murder out of a search for a long-lost woman in the Dordogne.
Shaun Whiteside (Editor)
Paris Stories
Flaubert meditates on humanity, Fitzgerald revels in “la vie belle” and many other great writers explore Paris in these classic stories. Part of the Everyman’s Pocket Classics series.