Showing titles in France

On 6th June 1944, the Allied invasion began. For hours, wave after wave of soldiers, sailors, and airmen crossed the channel and stormed the Normandy coast, fighting to gain a foothold in Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe. It was the largest combined air and seaborne invasion ever, involving over 150,000 Allied troops on the ground, and its eventual success became a critical turning point in the war, spelling the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.

In this enthralling history, internationally bestselling author Max Hastings recounts the odds-defying Operation Biting, a 1942 parachute commando raid on Northern France to steal vital components of German intelligence—one of the most thrilling British commando raids of World War II, and one...

Paris in the Belle Époque is remembered as a golden age of cultural flourishing and political progress. The period between the revolutionary 1870s and the outbreak of war in 1914 saw the modern French capital take shape: by day Parisians could admire the rising Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Coeur Basilica, while at night they roamed the Bohemian world of the Moulin Rouge. But as Mike Rapport reveals in this authoritative and beautifully written new history, City of Light, City of Shadows, beneath the elegant veneer Paris was at war with itself.

SLEEK. CHIC. NOTORIOUSLY GUARDED. WELCOME TO THE SECRET WORLD OF COCO CHANEL. Justine Picardie’s definitive biography explores the dark mysteries hidden beneath the shimmering surface of a fabled fashion icon. Unveiling remarkable details about Coco Chanel’s traumatic childhood and her...

Paris, 1940. Three years ago, talented art restorer Sophie fled to Paris to escape the horrors of the Nazi regime. But now, with her beloved adoptive city under occupation, Sophie is forced to work at the renowned Jeu de Paume, restoring the art ruthlessly stolen from Jewish families. Fabienne was a rising star of the glamorous Parisian art scene, until the Nazis put a stop to her craft. Mourning the loss of her husband, she's a shadow of her former self - until her estranged sister-in-law Sophie arrives at her door with a stolen painting in hand.

Paris—city of love, food, culture—is steeped in a rich history known the world over. From the creative minds of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who both frequented the world-famous Moulin Rouge at the turn of the twentieth century, to the many historic changes that saw Paris expand into the city of twenty arrondissements that residents and tourists flock to every year. In A Brief History of Paris, historian Cecil Black entertainingly details the stories behind the culture, locations, architecture, people, food and more that keeps visitors enchanted.

Benjamin Harris was a young shepherd from Dorset who joined the army in 1802 and later joined the dashing 95th Rifles. His battalion was ordered to Portugal, where he marched under the burning sun, weighed down by his kit and great-coat, plus all the tools and leather he had to carry as the battalion's cobbler—'the lapstone I took the liberty of flinging to the Devil'. Rifleman Harris was a natural storyteller with a remarkable tale to unfold, and his recollections have become one of the most popular military books of all time.

March, 1914. When talented artist Isobel embarks on a journey to Egypt, it's to reunite her best friend, Alice, with her husband, Wilfred—and to use the stunning sights of Cairo as inspiration for her own paintings. A whirlwind romance was the last thing she expected, but when Isobel meets Wilfred's handsome brother, Edward, neither can deny the strong connection between them—especially when unexpected tragedy strikes, leaving them all reeling. Just as they get to grips with their grief, WW1 erupts, and the lovers are forced to separate. 

War brings them together. Liberation will tear them apart. A POWERFUL PORTRAIT OF WAR. A HEARTBREAKING STORY OF LOVE. THE EXTRAORDINARY NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF WHILE PARIS SLEPT. Paris 1944. Elise Chevalier knows what it is to love...and to hate. Her fiancé, a young French soldier, was...

A waiter's job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door...is hell. Edward Chisholm's spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its...

A narrative history, cinematic in scope, of a process that was taking shape in the winter of 1933 as domestic passions around the world colluded to drive governments towards a war few of them wanted and none of them could control. All Against All is the story of the season our world changed from...

Few historical figures are as well known as Napoleon Bonaparte, and yet the Emperor's 10-month exile on the small island of Elba is virtually unexplored. Now, for the first time, we have a window into this critical moment when the most powerful man on earth turns defeat into one final challenge. A close character study mixed with a world-shaking drama, The Invisible Emperor will show Napoleon as he's never before been seen: as heart-broken husband, civil engineer, interior decorator, gardener and spy master.

This audiobook centres around the Sun King and his relationship with numerous and fascinating women. Naturally dividing into five parts, it concentrates on the King's mother, Anne of Austria; his first important mistress, Louise de la Valliere; Athenais Marquise de Montespan, who acted as unofficial Queen of Versailles; Marie Therese, his wife, of course; and Madame de Maintenon, governess to the illegitimate royal children.

Spies, bed-hopping, treachery and executions – this story of espionage in wartime Bordeaux is told for the first time. Game of Spies uncovers a lethal spy triangle at work during the Second World War. The story centres on three men – on British, one French and one German – and the duels...

‘This is history as it should be. It is stunningly written, I could not put it down. This is the best account of the French Revolution I have ever read.’ Alison Weir, author of ‘Henry VIII, King and Court’ The fascinating, moving story of the brief life and many possible deaths of Louis...

A brand new, unabridged recording of Baroness Orczy's classic tale of adventure, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. Paris, 1792. The Terror has begun. Every day, scores of the French nobility are delivered to the guillotine. Trapped in the capital, they have no way of escape. But rumours abound of a...

A magnificent and timely examination of an age of fear, subversion, suppression and espionage, Adam Zamoyski explores the attempts of the governments of Europe to police the world in a struggle against obscure forces, seemingly dedicated to the overthrow of civilisation. The advent of the French...

The loss of British bombers over Occupied Europe began to reach alarming levels in 1941. Could it be that the Germans were using a sophisticated form of radar to direct their night fighters and anti-aircraft guns at the British bombers? British aerial reconnaissance discovered what seemed to be a rotating radar tower on a clifftop at Bruneval, near Le Havre. The truth must be revealed. The decision was taken to launch a daring raid on the Bruneval site to try and capture the technology for further examination.

Marie Antoinette's dramatic life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. To many people, she is still 'la reine mechante', whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: 'let them eat cake'. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny.

WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD (2011) A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of mummified corpses and chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love... A year unlike any other he has lived. Deep in the heart of Paris, its...