When James Beddoes, a former financial journalist, moves to Paris, it is ostensibly to write a novel based on the diaries of Paul-Antoine Brunel, a French lieutenant who became a leader of the Paris Commune during the Siege of Paris in 1870. But James is also in Paris to pursue a Frenchwoman, Flavie, whom he met at a party and with whom he has become infatuated. Although it soon becomes clear that Flavie is gay, James nonetheless becomes drawn into her volatile emotional relationships, all the while secretly hoping that he can change her mind. And in parallel, amid the political struggles and the battles of the Paris Siege, another love story is unfolding - between Brunel and Babette, a married restaurateur. But when James follows Flavie to Palestine, and as the Paris Siege intensifies, all four protagonists are brought face to face with the brutal reality of civil war.
- ISBN10 0340734698
- ISBN13 9780340734698
- Publish Date 28 March 2005 (first published 7 June 2004)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 29 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
- Imprint Sceptre
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 352
- Language English