9 Captivating and Immersive Books Set in France

The French Revolution is tearing the country apart and upending the social order. But for Claire Lacombe and Pauline Leon, two poor women on the outskirts of society, the grand philosophies of this battle are more abstract than real.

Things change when Pauline witnesses the execution of local bread riot leaders, and soon they both join the uprising in the name of justice. Joining them is Madame Manon Roland, a noblewoman who ghostwrites speeches for her politician husband and runs a salon where revolutionaries gather to plot their future.

The battle for equality will be bloody, but Claire and Pauline will sacrifice everything to make a better future for France.

Ivan once spent his days traveling the world. Francesca is an Italian heiress who lived the good life on her parents' dime. Now, they're the owners of a very unique bookshop.

Tucked away in a corner of Paris, the store offers its clientele a selection of literary masterpieces chosen by a top-secret committee of passionate book lovers.

It's a hit with readers across the city, but then they begin to receive venomous comments from anonymous trolls. When three members of the supposedly secret committee are attacked, they decide to call the police.

Why would anyone want to destroy their bookstore?

In the summer of 1918, the First World War is almost at an end, but the Germans are still trying to tighten their grip over Paris. Edward Steichen arrives in France to photograph the war for the American army.

This is a country he loves deeply, one full of good memories, like his marriage and the births of his two daughters. But as he takes up his first command, he learns that his wife Clara has filed suit against her friend, the painter Marion Beckett, charging that she was Steichen's lover in the summer before the war.

Steichen's seemingly perfect life is falling apart as he tries to capture history in the making, and his search for answers forces him to confront the truth of his seemingly idyllic past.

Englishman Paul West has just received an offer he can't refuse: two weeks on holiday in France, all expenses paid, with a beautiful blonde by his side named Gloria Monday.

Gloria, known as M, is in the region to report on caviar trafficking, but her real mission is far more dangerous. Meanwhile, Paul's best friend Elodie is marrying a French aristocrat, and he's been asked to cook for the party. 

Catering for a French wedding could be a disaster. And that's before Paul's forced to deal with drunk bachelorettes, crazy commandos, and the impending arrival of the new President of France.

Frances Price is a sharp-tongued New York socialite and widow in the midst of dire financial straits.

Desperate to fend off bankruptcy, she finds no help from her immature adult son Malcolm or their cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes has been possessed by the spirit of her late husband.

Paris promises a reprieve from their financial and social struggles, but the City of Light comes with its own problems, including private investigators, psychics, seances, and culture clashes.

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works and teaches her how to see the world without her sight.

When she is twelve, the Nazis take over Paris, forcing Marie-Laure to flee the city to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where her reclusive great uncle lives. With them, they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

Werner Pfennig grows up with his sister in Germany, orphaned and with nobody but one another for company. He becomes an expert at fixing radios, which gets him recruited unwillingly by the Nazis for their murderous agenda.

Their lives will intertwine as the war slowly comes to an end and the devastation of war forces them to fight for what they believe in.

This epic novel truly deserves that description. Edward Rutherfurd is famous for his expansive historical novels, which explore the history and populace of iconic cities.

In Paris, he jumps back and forth between the 13th and 20th centuries, portraying the lives of six very different families. One family of nobles claims descent from the hero of the celebrated poem The Song of Roland.

Another tries to embody the ideals of the French Revolution as heads roll across the land. A pair of brothers from the slums behind Montmartre work in two of the city's most famous landmarks, the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge.

A group of merchants loses everything during the reign of Louis XV and regains their fortunes as Napoleon rises to power.

The quiet French village of Lansquenet is very much set in its ways. When the exotic stranger Vianne Rocher arrives one day and opens up a chocolate boutique called “La Celeste Praline”, the locals are fascinated and scandalized.

She doesn't go to church, reads tarot cards, and makes the most addictive sweets. Father Reynaud thinks she'll tempt people to gluttony and sin, but many are delighted by her creations.

Vianne’s plans for an Easter Chocolate Festival divide the whole community even further. Can pleasure and piousness live alongside one another?

When one thinks of the very idea of a French novel, no title represents it more than the legendary Les Misérables.

Victor Hugo’s gigantic saga of injustice, rebellion, and social trauma is one of the most influential books of all time, as well as a beloved musical that ran on Broadway for over 16 years.

Inspired by true events, Hugo tells the grand story of Jean Valjean, free from prison after 19 years behind bars for stealing a loaf of bread.

He desperately seeks redemption, but the world is not kind to men like him. Nor does it care for women like Fantine, a single mother struggling to provide for her baby and exploited at every turn.

Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 anti-monarchist rebellion, this tale of hardship and inequality redefined what the novel could and should do.