CITY · FRANCEBooks set in Paris
48.857, 2.352
130 books · 112 authors · 1830–2026
130 books here
Most-set authors
Patrick Modiano (4) · Kristin Harmel (4) · Émile Zola (4) · Julio Cortázar (2) · Milan Kundera (2) · Robert Ludlum (2)
Genres
literary fiction (74) · historical fiction (21) · mystery & crime (13) · thriller & suspense (8) · science fiction (3) · romance (3) · adventure (3) · horror (2) · children's (2) · fantasy (1)
Books set here
Set in Paris (80)
Le Divorce
Diane Johnson
American in Paris — cultural collision and Parisian divorce drama
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Nana
Emile Zola
Second Empire Paris; Boulevard Haussmann theatre district, Montmartre
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The Black Widow
Daniel Silva
Paris where the ISIS bombing at a conference on antisemitism triggers Gabriel Allon's operation against Saladin
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The Committed
Viet Thanh Nguyen
1980s Paris where Vietnamese refugees Vo Danh and Bon build a new life selling for a drug lord
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Three Hours in Paris
Cara Black
Occupied Paris June 1940; American sharpshooter Kate Rees sent to assassinate Hitler during his three-hour visit
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A Certain Smile
Françoise Sagan
1950s Paris; Dominique, a Sorbonne law student, in a love affair with an older man
Buy on Bookshop.org →After the Circus
Patrick Modiano
Mid-1960s Paris; moody cafes, high-ceilinged apartments, and empty tree-lined streets as backdrop for a mysterious relat
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Code Name Hélène
Ariel Lawhon
Nancy Wake's pre-war life as a journalist; French Resistance network hub
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Kocumbo the Student
Aké Loba
Student life in Paris — West African discovering France
Buy on Bookshop.org →Life: A User's Manual
Georges Perec
11 rue Simon-Crubellier — Parisian apartment building frozen in time
Buy on Bookshop.org →Meet Me in Paris
Kristin Harmel
One magical week in Paris — Julia and Piper's final mother-daughter trip
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Paris Nocturne
Patrick Modiano
1960s Paris at night; narrator meanders through city quarters after a mysterious accident near Place des Pyramides
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Standing Heavy
GauZ’
Parisian shopping centre security guard posts; three generations of Ivorian workers, 1960–2001
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The Chalk Circle Man
Fred Vargas
Chalk circles appear on Paris pavements; Pigalle, Saint-Georges, Montparnasse
Buy on Bookshop.org →The Elementary Particles
Michel Houellebecq
Late 20th-century France, sexual revolution and disillusionment
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Laura Dave
Hannah and Bailey's destination — city where Owen and Hannah honeymooned
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V.E. Schwab
18th–19th century Paris, Enlightenment salons, Addie's centuries-long wandering
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The Madwomen of Paris
Jennifer Cody Epstein
Late 19th-century Paris, Salpetriere asylum for women
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Hoda Barakat
European exile city where Arab displaced people send and receive letters of loss
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The Paris Daughter
Kristin Harmel
Nazi-occupied Paris — two young mothers whose friendship and daughters are torn apart by war
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The Paris Hours
Alex George
Single day in 1927; four lives intersect across the city
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Kimberly Belle
Paris, thriller set amid Eiffel Tower, 19th arrondissement, dream vacation turned nightmare
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Sans Famille
Hector Malot
Rémi and Vitalis live and busk here; site of Vitalis's arrest and imprisonment
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The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
The Count's revenge among Parisian high society
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The Day of the Jackal
Frederick Forsyth
Top-floor flat the Jackal uses as his sniper's nest
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Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
Narrator's Paris lodging, called Villa Borghese in the book
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Honeymoon
Patrick Modiano
Real-life address of Dora Bruder, investigated by the narrator
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Muriel Barbery
The apartment building where the characters live
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The Paris Library
Janet Skeslien Charles
Historical wartime location of the library
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Murder in the Marais
Cara Black
The historic Jewish quarter of Paris where Aimée Leduc investigates a neo-Nazi murder in 1993
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The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
Frequent hangout for Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley
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All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
Where Marie-Laures father works and the Sea of Flames is kept
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The Big Four
Agatha Christie
Home and laboratory of Madame Olivier (Number Three), visited by Poirot and Hastings
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The Little Paris Bookshop
Nina George
Where Jean Perdus book barge is docked at the start
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The Red Notebook
Antoine Laurain
Where Laurent discovers the abandoned mauve handbag
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The Paris Architect
Charles Belfoure
Opening scene location where Lucien witnesses a murder
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Ambiguous Adventure
Cheikh Hamidou Kane
Where Samba Diallo studies philosophy and loses his connection to Islamic faith — a crisis of colonial identity
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August Blue
Deborah Levy
One of Elsa's European destinations in pursuit of her double; the novel traverses Vienna, Athens, London, and Paris
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Kvachi
Mikheil Javakhishvili
Kvachi escapes to Paris and continues his adventures abroad
Buy on Bookshop.org →Le Mal de Peau
Monique Ilboudo
Cathy emigrates to Paris to study architecture and search for her father
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Metroland
Julian Barnes
Paris where Christopher lives as a graduate student in 1968
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Michel Houellebecq
Paris where civil servant Michel Renault lives and begins a passionate affair with travel agent Valérie after meeting he
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Red, White & Royal Blue
Casey McQuiston
Chapter 7: Alex and Henry's Paris trip, spending the night together for the first time on their shared birthday
Buy on Bookshop.org →The Anomaly
Hervé Le Tellier
Departure city of Air France flight at heart of the anomaly
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The City and The Mountains
José Maria de Eça de Queirós
Jacinto's decadent Parisian life
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The Difference Engine
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Sybil Gerard travels here with stolen diamonds; site of the French Engine processing the punch cards
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Tríptico de la infamia
Pablo Montoya
Site of the 1572 St. Bartholomews Day massacre; painter Dubois flees after witnessing it
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Village Weavers
Myriam J.A. Chancy
1960s Paris — one of the diaspora settings as characters' lives diverge
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A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
Impoverished Paris district housing the Defarges' wine shop, named directly in the text
Buy on Bookshop.org →Notable locations in Paris
150 Rue de Rennes116th Arrondissement117th Arrondissement118 Villa Seurat136 Rue de Saintonge141 Boulevard Ornano17 Rue de Grenelle174 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine1American Library in Paris1Champ de Mars1Elephant of the Bastille1Faubourg Saint-Antoine1Folies Bergère1Gare du Nord1Gare Montparnasse1Goutte d'Or, Paris1Hôtel Lutetia1Jardin des Plantes, Paris1Jardin du Luxembourg1Le Marais1Le Marais Paris1Le Select1Les Halles1Louvre Museum, Paris1
Nearby books
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Victor Hugo
0 km · place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville - Esplanade de la Libération
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Quick answers
What books are set in Paris?
The Dogear maps 130 books set in Paris, including The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo.
Which authors have set the most books in Paris?
Patrick Modiano (4 books), Kristin Harmel (4 books), Émile Zola (4 books) and Julio Cortázar (2 books).
Which award-winning books are set in Paris?
Less by Andrew Sean Greer (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2018) and Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance, 2019).
Which books set in Paris have been adapted for film or TV?
The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff (adapted as The Danish Girl, 2015), Transit by Anna Seghers (adapted as Transit, 2018), Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (adapted as Les Misérables), The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo (adapted as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996) and Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (adapted as Red, White & Royal Blue, 2023).