The Best Summer Reads to Brush Up on Your French Culture
As the heat rises and city streets begin to empty for les vacances, there’s no better time to escape into the pages of a great book, especially one that brings the textures and tensions of France to life.
This summer, the editors and show hosts of World Radio Paris have put together a list of French books, old and new, fiction and fact to help our listeners become better versed in French literary offerings. All available in English translation, these works are perfect for readers eager to explore the richness of French thought, storytelling, and identity.
🎧 Want more recommendations?
Listen to our full episode on World Radio Paris, where we dive deeper into these titles and share why they made the cut. Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or on our website.
The Classics
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
If you’re going to start anywhere, start with Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo is the ultimate summer epic — a saga of betrayal, revenge, and transformation. First published in 1844, it tells the story of Edmond Dantès, a man unjustly imprisoned who emerges to exact a masterful revenge. It’s a page-turner with the heart of a moral fable, still thrilling nearly two centuries on!
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My Father’s Glory
Marcel Pagnol
In this charming memoir of childhood summers in Provence, filmmaker and novelist Marcel Pagnol captures a world of sunlit hills, gentle family rivalries, and the innocent wonder of youth. My Father’s Glory is nostalgia done right — tender, evocative, and tinged with the bittersweet clarity of adulthood looking back.
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Bonjour Tristesse
Françoise Sagan
A novel of startling emotional precision, Bonjour Tristesse was written when Françoise Sagan was just 18. Set on the Riviera, this slim book follows a teenage girl whose lazy summer is disrupted by the arrival of her father’s new lover. Sagan’s prose is cool and cutting; her insights into desire, freedom, and disillusionment feel as fresh now as in 1954.
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Promise at Dawn
Romain Gary
Part memoir, part novelistic fantasia, Promise at Dawn recounts Romain Gary’s extraordinary life, from a boyhood in Lithuania to his career as a diplomat and war hero. At its heart is the figure of his eccentric and loving mother, who believed in his greatness long before the world did. It’s a love story between a mother and son, and a deeply human portrait of ambition and sacrifice.
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The Outsider
Albert Camus
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” With this famously detached opening, Camus launches one of the most iconic works of 20th-century literature. The Outsider is an unsettling novel about a man who refuses to play by society’s emotional rules. Existentialism made accessible.
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Remembrance of Things Past
Marcel Proust
For the truly ambitious reader, Proust’s 4,000-page masterwork awaits. More than a novel, In Search of Lost Time is a meditation on memory, desire, and the passage of time. It’s famously dense but ultimately one of literature’s most rewarding journeys.
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Contemporary Fiction
Small Country
Gaël Faye
Set in Burundi on the eve of civil war, this lyrical debut by rapper-turned-author Gaël Faye explores childhood, exile, and the loss of innocence. Narrated by a young boy caught between cultures, Small Country is a compact novel with a poetic emotional reach.
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What the Day Owes the Night
Yasmina Khadra
In this sweeping historical novel, Khadra — the pen name of former Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul — examines colonial Algeria through the life of Younes, a boy raised by a French family while his country moves toward independence. A story of cultural fracture, doomed love, and conflicted identity.
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The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles
Katherine Pancol
With wit and warmth, Pancol’s bestseller follows two very different sisters navigating modern life in Paris — one insecure and struggling, the other effortlessly glamorous. A delicious slice of contemporary French society.
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My Husband
Maud Ventura
A hit in France and newly available in English, My Husband is a darkly comic tale of obsession disguised as devotion. Behind the seemingly perfect marriage lies a narrator whose neuroses and routines spiral into something far more disturbing. A sharp psychological novel that tears down the myth of marital bliss.
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Non-Fiction
Moveable Feasts: Paris in Twenty Meals
Chris Newens
Chris takes us on a delicious journey through every arrondissement of Paris, uncovering the multicultural dishes and personal food stories that define modern Parisian cuisine. Perfect if you want to learn more about French food culture beyond the clichés!
Listen to our interview with the author here
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The Other Paris
Lucy Sante
Forget the Eiffel Tower. Lucy Sante uncovers the shadowy, rebellious underside of the City of Light. From thieves and revolutionaries to poets and prostitutes, The Other Paris is a social history that highlights the city’s underclass.
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Sex and Lies
Leïla Slimani
In Sex and Lies, Leïla Slimani interviews Moroccan women about sexuality, repression, and freedom. It’s nonfiction, but it reads like a collection of secret confessions. Slimani is one of the most important voices in French literature today. This is a must-read if you’re interested in the intersection of gender, politics, and culture in the Francophone world.
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A Brief History of France
Cecil Jenkins
For readers seeking context, Jenkins offers a concise and engaging guide through centuries of French history. From the Gauls to the Republic, this book is accessible without being simplistic and is the perfect crash course in understanding the country’s political and cultural DNA.
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How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment
Skye Cleary
Simone de Beauvoir — philosopher, writer, feminist icon — gets a fresh interpretation in this thoughtful book by Skye Cleary. Drawing on The Second Sex and her complex relationship with Sartre, Cleary explores what it means to live an “authentic” life. This is a compelling introduction to one of France’s most famous intellectuals.
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