5 books about Paris’ most famous apartment that will transport you back to 1942
If you’re a Francophile whose an old soul at heart, these five books exude Belle Époque glam, romance and history
Photo: MyModernMet.com
When news broke that an Apartment in Paris had been discovered sealed and untouched since 1942 I was beyond interested. I am completely taken with that time period and find myself stumbling into any brocante or antique market I can find when visiting France. Being surrounded by old, dusty, beautiful objects has always been my happy place, so I couldn’t wait to hear about the treasure trove they discovered when finally unsealing the apartment and stepping into the space after 70+ years!
The apartment was discovered in the 9th arrondissement, which is also called Opéra, as the Paris Opera House is located there and was owned by Marthe de Florian, a famous demimondaines during that time period.
Demimondaines were women whose sexual promiscuity placed them on the fringes of respectable, high society. Demi meaning half and monde meaning world was first seen in Alexandre Dumas’ play “Demi-Monde” about the elite men and the women they would “visit,” often times financing their lavish, over-the-top life styles.
One of the biggest finds in the apartment was a painting done by the “Master of the Swish,” Italian painter Giovanni Boldidi. Upon further digging in the apartment, love letters between the two were discovered, confirming the subject of the painting as none other than Madame Florian herself.
Photo: ArchitectualDigest.com
If you’re a fan of historical fiction, check out five books that are set in the Paris “time capsule” itself; Marthe de Florian’s locked up and left Belle Epoch apartment.
Buy it here: Amazon.com
The Paris Apartment - Michelle Gable
The story dives between diary entries written by Marthe left behind in the apartment and modern day Paris, following Sotheby's auctioneer April Vogt as she assesses the items in the newly unlocked apartment. Through the diary entries, April begins to learn the backstory of mysterious Marthe de Florian and gathers clues about a painting she stumbled across while taking inventory. Follow along as she uncovers the truth about the artist and his relationship to the subject and how the apartment found itself unoccupied.
Buy it here: Amazon.com
The Paris Time Capsule - Ella Carey
This book is part one of a two part series based around the theme of the apartment. Main character Cat has the absolutely perfect life in New York. She loves working as a photographer and has an incredible fiancé whom she’s planning the perfect wedding and future with. So, when out of the blue, Cat inherits a property in Paris from a complete stranger, she has reservations about traveling to the city of lights and dredging up an unknown, unwanted past.
After being coaxed into coming to Paris by the lawyers dealing with the inheritance, Cat’s perfect life is thrown into chaos when, determined to find out the truth behind the inheritance, she uncovers secrets from the past, making it almost impossible to return to her previously perfect life.
Buy it here: Amazon.com
The Paris Secret - Karen Swan
London based, fine arts agent Flora has been commissioned to assess a recently discovered Parisian apartment filled with abandoned and rare antiquities. As Flora digs deeper into the apartment’s contents, she discovers secrets tied to France’s most wealthy and well-known family, the Vermeil’s. Gaining the families confidence, she is brought on to find out the history of each painting discovered in the apartment, but as she digs deeper, the families involvement with the Nazi take over of Paris and high profile art come into question. Did the families wealth happen at the hands of their Jewish neighbors?
Buy it here: Amazon.com
The Velvet Hour - Alyson Richman
Historians believe that Marthe de Florian had two sons, both of which she named Henri. The first died a few years after birth. Her second went on to become a pharmacist and have a daughter of his own, Solange, who became the heir of the now famous shuttered apartment. As the Velvet Hour unfolds, we follow the budding relationship between granddaughter, Solange, and grandmother, Marthe, taking place as Paris is on the brink of a Nazi takeover. As Marthe begins to reveal to Solange the details about her colorful past, Solange is also on her own path of self discovery. Losing her Jewish mother when she was a young girl, Solange now finds herself battling between discovering her heritage and reconciling the Nazi idealism creeping into France.
Where to buy: Amazon.com
The Paris Apartment - Kelly Bowen
When Aurelia Leclaire inherits an opulent apartment from her grandmother Estelle, she is left with more questions than answers. Not only was Aurelia unaware her grandmother had an apartment in Paris, the apartment has been uninhabited since the tail end of the war. It’s also filled with items that make her question who her grandmother really was. Flashbacks uncover both Estelle’s circumstances while Aurelia pieces together clues to reveal who her grandmother was and how she was involved with the Nazi invasion. Estelle’s character is said to be based on one of my absolute favorite women in history, Josephine Baker, one of the most prolific women involved in the French resistance during that time.
Have you read any of these books? If so, which is your favorite?
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Happy Reading!!
-R
