Book description
Elliot Paul, an American journalist, first walked into rue de la
Huchette in the summer of 1923. There,' he wrote, I found Paris.'
His biography of the street brings to life a cast of charaters, from
the stately M. de Malancourt to l'Hibou the tramp, from the culturally
precocious Hyacinthe to a bevy of prostitutes. Their friendships and
enmities, culture and way of life are woven into a tapestry as
compelling as a novel. Yet as the threat of the Second World War grows
and the political polarisation between right and left intensifies, it
endows their quiet, heroic lives with a tragic poignancy. The Last
Time I Saw Paris is one of the great portraits of an unforgettable city.
