French Biography

The Reign of Terror continues to fascinate scholars as one of the bloodiest periods in French history, when the Committee of Public Safety strove to defend the first Republic from its many enemies, creating a climate of fear and suspicion in revolutionary France. R. R. Palmer's fascinating narrative follows the Committee's deputies individually and collectively, recounting and assessing their tumultuous struggles in Paris and their repressive missions in the provinces.

Josephine's life story was as turbulent as the age, an era of revolution and social upheaval, of the guillotine and of frenzied hedonism. With telling psychological depth and compelling literary grace, Carolly Erickson brings the complex, charming, ever resilient Josephine to life in this memorable portrait, one that carries the reader from the sensual richness of her childhood in the tropics to her final lonely days at Malmaison.

Married for political reasons at the age of fourteen, Marie Antoinette was naive, impetuous, and ill-equipped for the role in which history cast her. From her birth in Vienna in 1755 through her turbulent, unhappy marriage, the bloody turmoil of the French Revolution, her trial for high treason during which she was accused of incest, and her final beheading, Marie Antoinette's life was the tragic tale of disastrous circumstances colliding.

The definitive biography of the great soldier-statesman by the New York Times bestselling author of The Storm of War Austerlitz, Borodino, Waterloo: his battles are among the greatest in history, but Napoleon Bonaparte was far more than a military genius and astute leader of men. Like George...

In I Buried Her in a French Press, Sarah shares how to build a path toward claiming self-worth, discovering inner-strength, and embracing self-love. A memoir and mirror, this book is a reminder that your voice matters, your story counts, and your next chapter can be the boldest one yet.

A dazzling biography of the French literary superstar Colette, who is also the subject of a major motion picture. “A fine and intelligent biography of Colette, with her long tumultuous life and the great body of her work scrupulously considered and presented with style.”—The New York...

L'arrestation d'un boucher cannibale au Mexique, la disparition troublante de deux amants à Philadelphie, une mère de famille sans histoire violée et assassinée chez elle, un triangle amoureux qui se termine en carnage… toutes ces histoires réelles se sont déroulées des deux côtés de l'Atlantique et ont eu un retentissement important dans la presse nationale. Victoria Charlton et McSkyz, les deux voix incontournables du true crime francophone, unissent leur expertise pour vous offrir un éclairage croisé inédit, qui révèle les failles, les zones d'ombre et les vérités qui dérangent.

The Fight for Freedom. The Cost of Leadership. The Birth of a Nation. As the flames of revolution ignite, George Washington steps into a role he never sought but cannot refuse—Commander in Chief of an army unprepared for war and a nation struggling to define itself. George Washington: Triumph and Libertybring to life the turbulent years of the American Revolution, revealing the triumphs, setbacks, betrayals, and moments of unyielding courage that shaped history. From the desperate retreats in New York to the daring victory at Trenton… from the bitter winter at Valley Forge to the ...

The Second Emancipation, the second work in a trilogy from bestselling author Howard W. French about Africa's pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild's contention that French is a "modern-day Copernicus." The title―referring to a brief period beginning in 1957 when dozens of African colonies gained their freedom―positions this liberation at the center of a "movement of global Blackness," with one charismatic leader, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), at its head.

Depuis son enfance, Julien Sandrel est bercé par les récits de ses aïeux italiens du côté de son père. Pourtant, il n'a jamais mis les pieds à Naples, berceau de sa famille. Et si son paradis perdu était là-bas ? Accompagné de ses frères, il part en quête de la tombe de son arrière-grand-mère, qu'il n'a pas connue, et nous entraîne dans un voyage plein de complicité et de rebondissements inattendus, à la découverte des secrets de son histoire familiale.

Marie Antoinette has been tried for centuries: in pamphlets, caricatures, gossip, and myth. This is her life — and the autopsy of the reputation that consumed it. Sent from Vienna to Versailles at fourteen, Marie Antoinette became the most visible woman in France just as a nation began to fracture under debt, inequality, and hunger. As public anger rose, her clothes, friendships, foreign birth, and even her motherhood were turned into evidence of corruption. Long before the guillotine, she was executed in story — reduced to a symbol that made complex failures feel like the fault of one ...

« Cette histoire ne m’appartient plus totalement. Elle a réveillé une douleur muette et profonde, montée de la nuit des temps. Elle a suscité la sidération. Comment comprendre ce qui m’est arrivé, ce que mon calvaire a ensuite déclenché ? Il m’a fallu marcher le long d’une faille, la mienne. Comme le funambule sur la corde raide, je dois avancer. Je voudrais par ce livre mettre des mots sur ce que j’ai traversé. Dire que je n’ai plus peur d’être seule, que j’ai retrouvé la joie de vivre. Dire que je suis vivante. »

2025 ECPA Award Winner - Biography & Memoir Read by the author. A riveting look inside a life of poverty, success, and the inner circles of political influence--from the foothills of Appalachia all the way to the White House. New York Times bestselling ghostwriter Nancy French is coming out of...

The vibrant, sprawling saga of Empress Maria Theresa—one of the most renowned women rulers in history—and three of her extraordinary daughters, including Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen of France. Out of the thrilling and tempestuous eighteenth century comes the sweeping family saga of...

The inspiring and delicious memoir of an American woman who had the gall to open a cooking school in Paris—a true story of triumphing over French naysayers and falling in love with a city along the way “An engaging, multilayered story of a woman navigating innumerable cultural differences to...

The extraordinary life of James Monroe: soldier, senator, diplomat, and the last Founding Father to hold the presidency, a man who helped transform thirteen colonies into a vibrant and mighty republic. “A first-rate account of a remarkable life.” —Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author...

The memoir of a young diplomat’s wife who must reinvent her dream of living in Paris—one dish at a time When journalist Ann Mah’s diplomat husband is given a three-year assignment in Paris, Ann is overjoyed. A lifelong foodie and Francophile, she immediately begins plotting gastronomic...

Nancy Wake, nicknamed 'the white mouse' for her ability to evade capture, tells her own story. As the Gestapo's most wanted person, and one of the most highly decorated servicewomen of the war, it's a story worth telling. After living and working in Paris in the 1930's, Nancy married a wealthy Frenchman and settled in Marseilles. Her idyllic new life was ended by World War II and the invasion of France. Her life shattered, Nancy joined the French Resistance and, later, began work with an escape-route network for Allied soldiers.

In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her “true calling.” From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre, en route to Paris, in the fall of 1948, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon...

When Mark Greenside - a native New Yorker living in California, political lefty, writer, and lifelong skeptic - is dragged by his girlfriend to a tiny Celtic village in Brittany at the westernmost edge of France in Finistere, or what he describes as "the end of the world," his life begins to change. In a playful, headlong style, and with enormous affection for the Bretons, Greenside shares how he makes a life for himself in a country where he doesn't speak the language or understand the culture.