A Wanderer in Paris

Here is a Paris that no longer exists, seen through eyes that wandered its streets just before the world changed forever. E.V. Lucas returns to the city of his memories in 1909 and finds it still magical: the singing cabman, the stationplatform bustle, the café terraces where time moves like honey. As an English wanderer, he notices what natives overlook - the particular blue of a November sky over the Tuileries, the geometry of light falling through café awnings, the characters who animate every corner. This is travel writing as deliberate loitering, the kind where getting lost is the point. Lucas records a city of extraordinary vitality, full ofuchanging routines and small delights that the coming war would scatter. The illustrations scattered throughout show us storefronts and street scenes that survive now only in memory. For anyone who has loved Paris, or loved the idea of it, this book offers something precious: a chance to wander its oldest streets in the company of a wry, observant companion who finds joy in everything from a perfect omelette to the rhythm of the Metro.