Paris

Paris

Summary

'The most bizarre and delicious of travel books' Observer

Julian Green was born to American parents in Paris in 1900, and spent most of his life in the French capital. Paris is an extraordinary, lyrical love letter to the city, taking the reader on an imaginative journey around its secret stairways, courtyards, alleys and hidden places. Whether evoking the cool of a deserted church on a hot summer's day, remembering Notre Dame in a winter storm in 1940, describing chestnut trees lit up at night like 'Japanese lanterns' or lamenting the passing of street cries and old buildings, his book is filled with unforgettable imagery. It is a meditation on getting lost and wasting time, and on what it truly means to know a city.

'Truthful, unpretentious and haunting' The Times Literary Supplement

About the author

Julian Green

Julian Green was born in Paris in 1900, the son of American parents. He published over sixty-five books in France, including novels, essays, plays and fourteen volumes of his journal. During the First World War, he served in the American Red Cross and then in the French Army; during the Second World War, he worked at the US Office of War Information, broadcasting to France on the radio. As an American, Julian Green gained the honour of being the only foreign member of the Académie Francaise. He died in Paris in 1998.
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