Books like Parisian Lives by Deirdre Bair

A memoir that traces a violent lesbian relationship, dissects psychological abuse, and challenges queer stereotypes while weaving literary tropes and cultural critique into an innovative narrative structure.

Posthumously published, Hemingway’s *A Moveable Feast* is a memoir of his Paris years in the 1920s, detailing his early career, intimate relationships, and encounters with other literary figures of the Lost Generation.

Monsieur Perdu, a literary apothecary aboard a Seine barge, prescribes novels to heal broken hearts. When his own love remains a mystery, he journeys south of France to find closure and prove stories can mend souls.

Spinster is a reflective memoir by Kate Bolick that explores her personal journey as a single woman, examining the lives of preceding bold single dames and the evolving attitudes toward women in contemporary society.

Four modern French women share witty, practical insights on fashion, culture, and life’s pleasures, revealing how to live with a Parisian spirit anywhere.

A compelling tale of betrayal and sexuality during the end of an 18-year relationship.

Juliet Nicolson traces the hidden histories of seven generations of women, unraveling family myths and secrets across Europe and America while exploring how past patterns shape her own life.

Updated biography of Harper Lee, detailing her life up to the release of *Go Set a Watchman* and exploring the creation of *To Kill a Mockingbird* and her relationships with editors, agents, and her sister.

Dani Shapiro’s memoir Hourglass is an intimate exploration of marriage, memory, and identity, charting the evolving bonds between a woman and her husband as she confronts love’s joys and challenges over time.

In this compelling portrait of a city in transition, Joan DeJean shows that by 1700 Paris had become the capital that would transform forever our conception of the city and of urban life.

Tracy K. Smith’s memoir traces her coming of age, grappling with African‑American identity, family history, and her mother’s cancer death, while exploring the meaning of home and the bond between mother and daughter.

In her powerful new book, critically acclaimed author Melissa Febos examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them. When her body began to change at eleven years old, Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she'd been told about herself and the habits and defenses she'd developed over years of trying to meet others' expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritize their personal safety, happiness, or freedom, and she set out to reframe those values and beliefs. Blending investigative reporting, memoir, and scholarship, Febos charts how she and others like her have reimagined relationships and made room for the anger, grief, power, and pleasure women have long been taught to deny. Written with Febos' characteristic precision, lyricism, and insight, Girlhood is a philosophical treatise, an anthem for women, and a searing study of the transitions into and away from girlhood, toward a chosen self.

An intimate look at the life of children's book author Madeleine L'Engle through interviews with her friends and associates.

In the 1920s, 28‑year‑old Hadley Richardson meets Ernest Hemingway in Chicago, marries him, and together they become Hollywood’s golden couple in Paris, navigating self‑doubt, jealousy, and literary ambition amid the expatriate scene.