I may not be able to live in Paris, or even visit right now, but I can certainly read novels set there. And isn’t that the next best thing? Here are 10 novels set in Paris that you are sure to enjoy.
This post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more here.
This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.
10 Novels Set in Paris
I’ve always been able to escape to another time and place through the pages of a good novel. And one of my favorite escapes has long been Paris. I live in rural Oklahoma which I do love but sometimes I just need to spend a few days strolling the streets of Paris, soaking up the atmosphere of the City of Light in my imagination. Here are 10 Parisian escapes I’ve enjoyed.
Note: Many of us are doing our best to avoid purchasing from Amazon and a number of other large corporations, for a variety of reasons. I recommend checking the library or purchasing books from local book stores if you have them in your area. If not, Bookshop.org is a great option. For your convenience, however, I’ve included links to both Bookshop.org and Amazon.
La Vie, According to Rose: A Novel by Lauren Parvizi
From Paris’s cobblestone streets to Provence’s sun-soaked hills, Rose embarks on a journey of adventure, betrayals, and even amour. For the first time, the directions she follows are up to her.
Goodnight From Paris by Jane Healey
In Nazi-occupied France, an American film star takes on the most dangerous role of her life in a gripping novel about loyalty and resistance, inspired by a true story, from the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Secret Stealers.
The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
When bookish young American Sylvia Beach opens Shakespeare and Company on a quiet street in Paris in 1919, she has no idea that she and her new bookstore will change the course of literature itself.
Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
A captivating novel based on the story of the extraordinary real-life American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II—while playing hostess to the invading Germans at the iconic Hôtel Ritz in Paris
The Queen of Paris by Pamela Binnings Ewen
While Chanel struggles to keep her livelihood intact, Paris sinks under the iron fist of German rule. Chanel — a woman made of sparkling granite — will do anything to survive. She will even agree to collaborate with the Nazis in order to protect her darkest secrets. When she is covertly recruited by Germany to spy for the Reich, she becomes Agent F-7124, code name: Westminster. But why? And to what lengths will she go to keep her stormy past from haunting her future?
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet seems to have the perfect life with her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.
The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles
Paris, 1995: It’s been five years since Lily Jacobsen and her best friend Mary Louise arrived in Paris from their small town of Froid, Montana. Determined to establish themselves as artists, they shared a tiny walkup and survived on brie and baguettes. But when Mary Louise abruptly moves out, Lily feels alone in the city of light for the first time and needs a new way to support herself. She lands a job as a programs manager at the American Library in Paris, following in the footsteps of Odile, her beloved French neighbor in Montana who told her stories of heroic World War II librarians when Lily was growing up.
The Paris Assignment by Rhys Bowen
Londoner Madeleine Grant is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris when she marries charismatic French journalist Giles Martin. As they raise their son, Olivier, they hold on to a tenuous promise for the future. Until the thunder of war sets off alarms in France.
All the Flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio
When Caroline wakes up in a Paris hospital with no memory of her past, she’s confused to learn that for years she’s lived a sad, reclusive life in a sprawling apartment on the rue Cler. Slowly regaining vague memories of a man and a young child, she vows to piece her life back together—though she can’t help but feel she may be in danger. A budding friendship with the chef of a charming nearby restaurant takes her mind off her foggy past, as does a startling mystery from decades prior.
Scruples by Judith Krantz
Born the only child of a distinguished scientist, who is a member of the venerable Winthrop family but must work for a living, Wilhelmina is nicknamed “Honey”, a diminutive of her middle name. In her infancy, her mother dies and she is raised by her distant father and a housekeeper. She grows up isolated from her extended family and, with the help of the housekeeper, turns to food for comfort. Around the time she graduates from high school, she is left $10,000 by a maiden aunt, who begs her to spend it foolishly while she is still young. In a last-ditch effort to “find herself”, Honey goes to live in Paris with a French family. There, she undergoes a transformation of both body and soul, first changing her name to Billy, then losing weight, and then gaining Parisian style under the guidance of Liliane, the elegant Frenchwoman who is her hostess.
This is one of my early reads (partially) set in Paris and I credit it with lighting the spark that began my obsession with all things French. It contains an iconic description of typical French meals:
Billy soon discovered the normal way in which the Comtesse, her daughters, and Billy herself were to eat. Breakfast consisted of two tartines, slices of toasted French bread cut on the bias and covered with a thin scraping of butter and jam accompanied by a large bowl, like a deep sugar bowl without a handle, filled half with hot coffee, half with hot milk. For lunch there was always a plate of soup made of a puree of the vegetables left over from the day before with a few spoonfuls of milk added just before it was served, followed by one fair-sized slice, sometimes two, of roast veal, lamb, or beef, all lean, tasty, and inexpensive cuts Billy had never seen before. The meat was accompanied by a small handful of perfect shoestring potatoes and a sprig of parsley. Next came a separate, generous plate of hot vegetables, marvelously fresh, served steamed, with a faint gloss of butter sometimes visible. Then the small cheese, each of which was expected to last for two days, a large lettuce salad, and a bowl of fruit. Dinner normally consisted of an egg, in one form or another, cheese, salad, and fruit. Billy was getting about eleven hundred calories a day, most of them from lean protein and fresh fruits and vegetables.
I should add a warning here, however. Scruples is the novel that helped define the bonkbuster. It contains a LOT of sexual content. If you’d just like to read about the main character’s transformation in Paris, see if you can get a copy at your local library and read the first two chapters. But if you get caught up in the story and keep reading, I cannot be held responsible. 😉
Now you are all set for a deep dive into your imaginary life in Paris! If you have a favorite novel set in Paris not mentioned here, I’d love to hear about it. I’m always on the lookout for more.
You may also enjoy…
10 Francophile Books to Inspire Your Inner French Girl
Leave a Reply