A stylish, deftly erudite and enormously diverting book

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

An artfully aimless pleasure cruise around Paris . . . What makes this book especially appealing is that it teems with private discoveries made public. It is good to read a refreshing un-journalistic take on the paradoxes of Paris . . . White finds France in the details he unearths

Stuart Jeffries, GUARDIAN

White's genius as a flâneur is revealed in his affinity for unexpected pleasures, and he includes many for our delectation, from his encounters with present-day royalists to Colette's one-time antidote for food poisoning: a stuffed cabbage and a currant tart

NEW YORKER

A celebration of the diversity and freedom of big-city life … First published in 2001, Edmund White's evocative paean to the city he lived in from 1983 to 1998 remains a delight … For White, “Paris lives in the details”

P. D. James, GUARDIAN

Impersonating the flâneur allows White to throw away the guidebooks and wander through Paris and its cultures with a poet's eye . . . One has the impression of having fallen into the hands of a highly distractible, somewhat eccentric poet and professor who is determined to show you a Paris you wouldn't otherwise see

NEW YORK TIMES

White assumes the identity of a flâneur . . . a dandyish quality which suits him well. His style is gracious and the good bits are so delicious one is left wanting more

SUNDAY TIMES