Elliot Paul, an American journalist, first walked into rue de la Huchette in the summer of 1923. 'There,' he wrote, 'I found Paris.' His biography of the street brings to life a cast of charaters, from the stately M. de Malancourt to l'Hibou the tramp, from the culturally precocious Hyacinthe to a bevy of prostitutes. Their friendships and enmities, culture and way of life are woven into a tapestry as compelling as a novel. Yet as the threat of the Second World War grows and the political polarisation between right and left intensifies, it endows their quiet, heroic lives with a tragic poignancy. The Last Time I Saw Paris is one of the great portraits of an unforgettable city.
