Paris Novels to Read This Summer

It’s July, which means half of Paris has gone on les vacances, while the other half is starting to pack for their summer escape in August.

Which means it’s the perfect time to pick up a book or two about Paris. Here are a few of my recommendations of Paris-based novels that are ideally read by the poolside, sipping a glass of rosé.

The Ladies’ Paradise by Émile Zola

• What it’s about: Set in 19th-century Paris, this novel follows Denise Baudu, who comes to the city with her two brothers to find work. She gets a job at the Ladies’ Paradise, a new modern department store that threatens the small local stores surrounding it. A blend of storytelling and critique about capitalism and the pressures it puts on retail workers, there are many parallels to today’s fast fashion and influencer trends.

• Who should read it: Those interested in Parisian history and how modern department stores changed the city completely.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

• What it’s about: A classic French novel about Jean Valjean, a former convict imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. He restarts his life and takes care of Cosette, the daughter of a woman forced to become a prostitute. The story goes on for several years and covers Cosette as a young woman, when she falls in love with Marius. Meanwhile, there’s a revolution in Paris, while Jean Valjean is being hunted down by the ruthless Inspector Javert. A tale of redemption, forgiveness and whether we can change, it includes a few hundred pages about the battle of Waterloo and a rant about the sewers of Paris as an analogy of French society.

• Who should read it: If you have a lot of time on your hands and don’t think movies can ever be better than the original book.

Pure by Andrew Millar

• What it’s about: An engineer is tasked with clearing the overcrowded Les Innocents cemetery next to the Les Halles market that is poisoning the area. Set just on the eve of the French Revolution, it’s a haunting and eerie tale of a creepier side of Paris.

• Who should read it: If descriptions of corpses don’t make you shudder and you actually enjoyed going to the Paris Catacombs and want to know more about where all the corpses came from.

A Tale of Two Cities

• What it’s about: This novel by Charles Dickens tells the story of a French doctor and his 18-year imprisonment in Bastille. When he is released, he goes to London to live with a daughter whom he has never met. The events take place before and during the French Revolution.

• Who should read it: If you didn’t read it in high school and you’re interested in finding out what the British thought about the French Revolution.

What’s on your summer reading list? Have any Paris-based novels you’d recommend? Let me know in the comments!

My Paris summer bucket list:

• Going for a swim in the Seine

• Visiting the Bourse de Commerce

• Picnics by the Seine and Canal St Martin

• Drawing the Olympic cauldron

• Eating lots of ice cream

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