In France, thinking is sexy and sex something to think about: take Joséphine, mid-thirties philosophy teacher in a tough lycée. Sick of her job, she starts moonlighting as an exotic dancer…
REVIEW L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped
Bulgarian-born US artist Christo had the idea to wrap the Arc de Triomphe in fabric as far back as 1962, but permission wasn’t granted until 2019…
REVIEW Vaux-le-Vicomte: A Private Invitation
He was the man whose lifestyle landed him in jail. Nicolas Fouquet made a colossal fortune as Louis XIV’s Superintendent of Finances…
REVIEW Exteriors
Written in the 80s and 90s, Annie Ernaux’s public spaces diary turns everyday scenes in the métro, supermarket and cashpoint queue into literary vignettes…
REVIEW Samaritaine
Like the recently reopened Paris store whose story it tells, this handsome title from US-based publisher Assouline is awash with Art Deco gorgeousness and chic…
Picturing a revolution
It lasted just 72 days, but as a case study in the sheer untamable messiness of history, it’s hard to do better than the Paris Commune of 1871.
REVIEW Paris
The Hungarian-born French photojournalist Paul Almasy had a long, illustrious and global career as a war correspondent, chronicler for UNESCO…
Edward Thomas’s ‘Owl’: missing a feather?
One evening of heat, unseasonal heat – it was late May – I was sitting in the book room with the window wide open, and I heard a tawny owl calling from the trees…