Historian and former foreign correspondent Patrick Bishop talks about his Sunday Times Bestseller Paris 44: The Shame & The Glory
There’s another of Hungerford Bookshop’s excellent author in conversations coming soon.
The historian and former foreign correspondent Patrick Bishop talks about his Sunday Times Bestseller Paris 44: The Shame & The Glory – a heart-stopping countdown narrative recreating the liberation of Paris in 1944 at Croft Hall on November 20, at 7pm.
It was one of the great and most dramatic hinge moments of the Second World War. When the Germans marched in and the lamps went out in the City of Light the millions who loved Paris mourned. Liberation, four years later, triggered an explosion of joy and relief.
It was the party of the century and everybody who was anybody was there. General Charles de Gaulle seized the moment to create an instant legend that would take its place alongside the great moments in French history. After years of oppression and humiliation Parisians had risen to reclaim their city and drive out the forces of darkness – or so the story went.
Among them are famous names like Ernest Hemingway, JD Salinger and Pablo Picasso, but also some fascinating unknowns including a medic turned Resistance gunwoman, an androgynous Hungarian sculptor and a French bluestocking who quietly set about saving the nation’s art treasures from the Nazi looters.
Paris ’44 looks behind the mythology to tell the real story of the liberation and expose the conflicts and contradictions of France under the occupation – the shame as well as the glory. This gripping war-time narrative will enthral anyone who has a place for Paris in their hearts.
Patrick Bishop will be in conversation about his latest book, followed by a Q&A and book signing.
Go to https://hungerfordbookshop.co.uk/ for booking details