**ONE OF KIRKUS'S 20 BEST BOOKS OF JANUARYONE OF BOOK PAGE'S TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE MONTHThe "endlessly compelling" (NYT Book Review) untold story of a trailblazing Paris correspondent for The New Yorker, who sounded the alarm about the rise of fascism in Europe while becoming enmeshed in the sensational case of a German serial killer stalking the streets of the French capital on the eve of WWII.**In 1925, the Indianapolis-born Janet Flanner took an as...

**One of The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2022One of The New York Time's 100 Notable Books of 2022One of Art News's Art Books They Couldn’t Put Down in 2022A dazzling portrait of Paris’s forgotten artist and cabaret star, whose incandescent life asks us to see the history of modern art in new ways.**In freewheeling 1920s Paris, Kiki de Montparnasse captivated as a nightclub performer, sold out gallery showings of her paintings, starred...

“A brisk historical tour of the marketing and selling of the small principality of Monaco and its famous city…A well-researched, dramatic rags-to-riches urban tale” (Kirkus Reviews) of Monte Carlo’s rise from small principality to prosperous resort town of the 1920s.Monte Carlo has long been known as a dazzling playground for the rich and famous. The “vivid, entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) Making Monte Carlo traces a narrative his...

**“A suspenseful, fast-paced account. . . . Braude’s prose glints with humor and humanity.” —Seattle TimesA gripping narrative history of Napoleon Bonaparte's ten-month exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba**In the spring of 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. Having overseen an empire spanning half the European continent and governed the lives of some eighty million people, he suddenly found himself exiled to Elba, less than a hundred square miles of territ...

The "endlessly compelling" (NYT Book Review) untold story of a trailblazing Paris correspondent for The New Yorker, who sounded the alarm about the rise of fascism in Europe while becoming enmeshed in the sensational case of a German serial killer stalking the streets of the French capital on the eve of WWII.In 1925, the Indianapolis-born Janet Flanner took an assignment to write a regular ‘Letter from Paris’ for a lighthearted humor magazine call...

In freewheeling 1920s Paris, Kiki de Montparnasse captivated as a nightclub performer, sold out gallery showings of her paintings, starred in Surrealist films, and shared drinks and ideas with the likes of Jean Cocteau and Marcel Duchamp. Her best-selling memoir—featuring an introduction by Ernest Hemingway—made front-page news in France and was immediately banned in America. All before she turned thirty.Kiki was once the symbol of bohemian Paris. But if she is remembered today, it...

**“A suspenseful, fast-paced account. . . . Braude’s prose glints with humor and humanity.” —Seattle TimesA gripping narrative history of Napoleon Bonaparte's ten-month exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba**In the spring of 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. Having overseen an empire spanning half the European continent and governed the lives of some eighty million people, he suddenly found himself exiled to Elba, less than a hundred square miles of territ...

The New York Times–bestselling biography of Manet, Cezanne, Degas, and others—a "revealing group portrait . . . lively, required reading" (People).Though they were often ridiculed or ignored by their contemporaries, their paintings are now revered around the world. Their dazzling works are familiar to even the most casual art lovers—but how well do we know the Impressionists as people? The first book to offer an intimate and lively biography of the world's ...

"Who knew that such a tiny bottle housed so many secrets?" —Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home the BirkinTilar J. Mazzeo, author of the New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot (an Amazon Best of the Month book in October 2008) returns with a captivating history of the world's most famous, seductive, and popular perfume: Chanel No. 5. Mazzeo's sweeping story of the iconic scent (known as "le monstre" in the fragrance industry) stretches from Coc...

**A New York Times Bestseller"Sciolino’s sharply observed account serves as a testament to…Paris—the city of light, of literature, of life itself." —The New Yorker**Elaine Sciolino, the former Paris Bureau Chief of the New York Times, invites us on a tour of her favorite Parisian street, offering an homage to street life and the pleasures of Parisian living. "I can never be sad on the rue des Martyrs," Sciolino explains, as she celebrates the neig...

Coco Chanel, without question probably the most famous fashion designer of all time, was named by Time magazine one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Her life was filled with trauma, romance, intrigue, and scandal, but her business acumen and groundbreaking talent (along with funding by her paramours) took her far beyond her humble beginnings. Chanel understood how to get what she wanted from life and never hesitated to pursue the grandest of visions. Her designs brok...

The subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous painting was twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. A relative unknown at the time, Sargent won the commission to paint her; the two must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame.Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one...