6 /10 1 Votes6
2/5 The Telegraph Publisher Double Day Originally published 23 April 2013 Genre Historical Fiction | 3.9/5 Goodreads Language English Publication date 23 April 2013 Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pages 832 pp (first edition, hardback) ISBN 978-0-7126-5419-7 (First Edition, hardcover) Nominations Goodreads Choice Awards Best Historical Fiction Similar Edward Rutherfurd books, Historical Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paris is a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd published in 2013, which charts the history of Paris from 1261 to 1968.
Contents
The novel begins during the Belle Époque period and follows six core families set in locales such as Montmarte, Notre Dame and Boulevard Saint-Germain. It includes a map of old Paris. Later titled Paris: A Novel.
Plot
The novel follows six families: the Le Sourds (a revolutionary family), the de Cygnes (a noble family), the Renards (a bourgeois family of merchants), the Blanchards (a family of Napoleon supporters), the Gascons (a family from the slums) and the Jacobs (an art dealing Jewish family). The book follows two timelines throughout, containing a large number of characters and is based on real events.
Reception
“This saga is filled with historical detail and a huge cast of characters, fictional and real, spanning generations and centuries. But Paris, with its art, architecture, culture and couture, is the undisputed main character.” - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“Both Paris, the venerable City of Light, and Rutherfurd, the undisputed master of the multigenerational historical saga, shine in this sumptuous urban epic.” — Booklist
A columnist for The Telegraph , however, gave it a rather scathing review calling the novel "swollen", "encyclopedic" and saying further that "character and plot are blithely sacrificed on the altar of trivia with every turn of the page."