Simon Pare

"'There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies--I mean books--that were written for one person only...A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that's how I sell books.' Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes...

"Marianne is stuck in a loveless, unhappy marriage. After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as "the end of the world." Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all...

"A brilliantly constructed popular history of the world careening toward the Second World War, as told through the love lives of some of the most famous and fascinating figures of the era. As the Roaring Twenties wind down, the great minds of the time have their minds on other concerns besides art and war. Jean-Paul Sartre waits anxiously in a Parisian café for his first date with Simone de Beauvoir, who stands him up. Marlene Dietrich slips from...