The Pharaoh's Shadow

Elliot Paul, an American journalist, first walked into rue de la Huchette in the summer of 1923. 'There, ' he wrote, 'I found Paris.' His biography of the street brings to life a cast of charaters, from the stately M. de Malancourt to l'Hibou the tramp, from the culturally precocious Hyacinthe to a bevy of prostitutes. Their friendships and enmities, culture and way of life are woven into a tapestry as compelling as a novel. Yet as the threat of the Second World War grows and the political polarisation between right and left intensifies, it endows their quiet, heroic lives with a tragic poignancy. The Last Time I Saw Paris is one of the great portraits of an unforgettable city.