Rutherfurd, Edward "Paris"

Rutherfurd, Edward "Paris" - 2013

Paris, one of my favourite cities in the world. And Edward Rutherfurd is a wonderful writer of history related to places.

A story which unfolds around the construction of the Eiffel Tower and the changes it brings to the city. The book builds the history of Paris while its most famous icon rises.

Contrary to most of his other books, this one is not written in chronological order. Therefore, I found it a little more difficult to follow the historyof the various families and also some surprises taken away from us.

But it was still a great book, really deserves to be named alongside Edward Rutherfurd's other books.

As in his other stories, we meet all sorts of families through the ages from all sorts of backgrounds, nobility as well as the common man, rich and poor, Christians and Jews who intermingle in the various generations. Through these families we can see how people lived in this famous city and how the history of this town and its country unfolds. There is a lot to learn about the French and Edward Rutherfurd makes it easy for us.

A big book, 1,360 pages where we can delve into the City of Love.

I am looking forward to reading more of his books, I still have "Sarum", "Russka" and "New York" on my list.

From the back cover:

"City of love. City of splendour. City of terror. City of dreams.

Inspired by the haunting, passionate story of the city of lights, this epic novel weaves a gripping tale of four families across the centuries: from the lies that spawn the noble line of de Cygne to the revolutionary Le Sourds who seek their destruction; from the Blanchards whose bourgeois respectability offers scant protection against scandal to the hard-working Gascons and their soaring ambitions.

Over hundreds of years, these four families are bound by forbidden loves and marriages of convenience; dogged by vengeance and murderous secrets; torn apart by the irreconcilable differences of birth and faith, and brought together by the tumultuous history of their city.

Paris bursts to life in the intrigue, corruption and glory of its people. Beloved author of Sarum, London and New York, Edward Rutherfurd illuminates Paris as only he can: capturing the romance and everyday drama of the men and women who, in two thousand years, transformed a humble trading post on the muddy banks of the Seine into the most celebrated city in the world."

Find a link to all my reviews on his other novels here.