My guest this week is Edward Chisholm whose debut novel “A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City” has received international recognition. It was named Book of the Week by the Daily Mail and one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New York Post. “A Waiter in Paris” is based on Edward’s time as, well, a waiter in Paris, a job he threw himself into when he found himself alone, nearly penniless, and speaking only the most rudimentary French. It’s a look into the seedy underbelly...

In honor of what would have been her 120th birthday, I sat down with the channeled spirit of famed diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica, Anäis Nin. A finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976, French-born American Anaîs is known for her personal journals and is widely hailed as one of the best writers of female erotica. She was a bigamist, with husbands in New York and California, and has had numerous affairs with people like...

For our second Valentine’s Day episode, we have a very special guest! Timothy Goodman is an internationally-recognized, award-winning designer, illustrator, muralist and author. I’m certain you've seen his unique artwork gracing everything from New York City walls to Uniqlo clothing to Nike sneakers to New Yorker covers, and everything in between, for some of the world's most popular brands. He teaches at SVA, authored the Sharpie Art Workshop and has co-created several social experiments....

This week, we have a very special Valentine’s Day guest: Shani Silver. Shani is the host of A Single Serving Podcast and the writer of the column Every Single Day for Refinery29. After 13 years of being single and being made to feel like this one minute part of her life was life-defining, Shani decided that it was time to change the narrative. Her book "A Single Revolution: Don't Look for a Match. Light One" will reframe the way you look at singledom, so you can feel good about yourself,...

My guest this week is international best-selling author Dr. Caroline Cauchi. Caroline has written 9 novels, including the modern day fairy tale "The Drowning of Arthur Braxton," which was subsequently made into a feature film that won Best UK feature at the Raindance Film Festival. She is also head of book editing at BubbleCow and is currently the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Liverpool University. Caroline’s latest novel, Mrs. Van Gogh, is the story of twenty-eight year old Johanna Van...

Welcome back to Season Five of Storytime in Paris! I have an excellent season lined up for you, if I do say so myself, and I’m delighted to introduce our season premiere guest: 22-time Sunday New York Times Top Ten, multi-million bestseller Adele Parks. Adele’s work has been translated into 31 languages and, as if that weren’t enough, Queen Elizabeth granted her the honor of MBE for Services to Literature in the New Year Honours List 2022. Adele’s latest novel is “One Last Secret,” a...

Welcome to the season finale of Season Four of Storytime in Paris! I have a very special guest for you: Jamie Beck is a world-renowned photographer whose photographs are almost an extension of herself. Her list of credits is long and impressive, and speckled with world famous brands like Chanel, Donna Karan, Nike, Oscar de la Renta, Netflix, Disney, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, to name but a few. Among her many accolades, Jamie has twice been named as one of the...

My guest this week is Kerri Maher, whose latest work of historical fiction, The Paris Bookseller, spent four weeks on the Indie Bestseller List and was just named a USA Today Bestseller. After having written about Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy and Grace Kelly, surprisingly it was The Paris Bookseller’s Sylvia Beach that Kerri was most intimidated to write about. Although, as founder of the original Shakespeare and Company, close friend of Ernest Hemingway, and influential supporter of James Joyce,...

GIVEAWAY! My guest this week is award-winning, bestselling author Margaret Porter. Margaret’s fifteenth book, “The Myrtle Wand,” is a reimagined continuation of the famous ballet Giselle, set in 17th-century France and the court of Louis XIV. Her writing is lush and vivid and weaves together characters, both historic and fictional, into a compelling tale of love, heartrbreak, friendship, piety, royalty, and the supernatural. In our conversation, Margaret reveals what she learned about the...

My guest this week is award-winning author Katherine J. Chen. Katherine’s work has been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Literary Hub, among others. Katherine is drawn to stories about powerful women and her latest novel, “Joan: a Novel of Joan of Arc,” is no exception. But this Joan is not the Joan you think you know. This is no meek marytr. Katherine’s Joan is strong and powerful, filled with rage, prone to hubris, and shaped by a relationship to God...

My guest this week is award-winning author Jordan Stratford, whose latest novel “La Maupin” is the second in his new Sword Girl historical YA series. “La Maupin” is based on the true story of 17-year old Julie d’Aubigny, known as La Maupin, who became an expert swordswoman, graverobber, arsonist, nun, assassin, wife, lover, and opera superstar, all before her 18th birthday. Jordan’s telling is described as a blend of “French “Yé Yé” pop, 1980s Delacorta beach novella, and Luc Besson...

Happy Halloween! I have a very special guest today, in honor of All Hallow’s Eve: Michel de Nostradame, better known as Nostradamus. Nostradamus was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and seer, often using his talents to aid French royalty. Since his first prediction in 1555, people the world over have been decoding and deciphering Nostradamus’s book “Les Prophéties” to see what insight it can give into the future. Thanks to the lovely and talented Eve Gallois, whose has previously...

My guest this week is Sarah Horowitz, professor of history at W&L University, where she is also head of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program. Her latest novel is "The Red Widow,” the so-insane-it’s-nearly-unbelievable true story of Marguerite (“Meg”) Steinheil. In her lifetime, Meg was a high society socialite, a sex worker, a Presidential mistress, and maybe, just maybe, a murderer. In our delightful conversation, Sarah shares her research and her views on what Meg’s story...

My guest this week is bestselling author Barbara Davis who has, astonishingly, written nine books in the past ten years. She’s a beautiful writer of complicated women and their familial relationships. Her lastest novel, “The Keeper of Happy Endings,” builds upon an unlikely friendship in 1984 Boston between 20-something Rory and 60-something Soline, a recluse from war-torn Paris who once created magical wedding dresses. While what unites them initially may be a recognition of similar loss,...

This week’s guest is bestselling author Robert Dinsdale. Rob’s latest novel “Paris by Starlight” is a beautiful work of magical realism that has been likened to the work of Neil Gaiman and Erin Morgenstern. In it, the Paris we know and love, with its citizens living by day, transforms with the arrival of the People, people who have been exiled from their homeland, who live by night. In our conversation, Rob discusses why Paris lends itself to magical realism, the fleeting nature of beauty,...

This week’s Season Four Premiere guest is Kate Riordan. Kate is a writer and journalist who has five fabulous novels under her proverbial belt. Her fourth novel "The Heatwave" was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, and we'll be discussing it in our next Storytime Book Club. But today we’ll be talking about Kate’s latest novel, “Summer Fever,” a psychological suspense set in Northern Italy. It’s the story of Laura and Nick, a British couple who’ve decided to fix up a villa and start a new life...

Our Season Three Finale guest this week is Sabine Durrant, author of the psychological thriller “Sun Damage.” Sabine is a former assistant editor of The Guardian and a former literary editor at The Sunday Times, who currently writes for The Sunday Telegraph and contributes to The Guardian’s family section. She is the author of several books, including six psychological thrillers. “Sun Damage,’ her lastest book, tells the story of Ali and Sean, two con artists pulling cons in the South of...

This week, my guest is award-winning author Michelle Wright. Among other accolades, Michelle was awarded a six-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where she wrote the novel “Small Acts of Defiance.” “Small Acts of Defiance” recounts the tale of Australian-born Lucie who moves to Paris just before the German Occupation. In a world with increasing anti-Jewish sentiment met with increasing French indifference, and uprooted into a foreign land suddenly occupied by yet...

My guest this week is author David Hoon Kim, a Korean-born American educated in France, who writes in both French and English. David’s work has been published in The New Yorker, Le Sabord, and Brèves, among others. His linked story collection "Paris is a Party, Paris is a Ghost” lives in a dreamlike Paris where we can’t always trust our senses, and was described by Buzzfeed as “a brilliant and absurd meditation on what it means to be haunted.” In our conversation, David discusses the...

My guest this week is the lovely Helen Fripp whose latest novel “The Painter’s Girl” whisks us back to Paris in the 1860s. Helen is drawn to strong women who defy societal pressures and the expectations of their time. In “The Painter’s Girl,” we meet Mimi Bisset. Born in the slums of Montmartre and forced to give up the child she had out of wedlock as a teenager, Mimi could easily have become a drunk, an absinthe addict, a sex worker, or all three, like so many around her. But Mimi’s dreams...

This week we’re heading a little further afield to the Western United States, and back in time to the 1930s, with our guest, author Rebekah Anderson. Rebekah studied under author E.L. Doctorow, and her writing has received multiple awards and fellowships. Her debut novel, “The Grand Promise,” is a beautifully-written, character-driven work of literary fiction, loosely based on her own family history. In examining the real communities impacted by the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam under...

My guest this week is the woman Roxane Gay called “a consummate storyteller.” Among her many accolades, Leesa Cross-Smith has been longlisted for the 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award and the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize. Her latest novel, Half-Blown Rose is the Amazon Editors’ Spotlight for June 2022, the inaugural pick for Amazon’s Book Club Sarah Selects, and the Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick for June 2022. Half-Blown Rose is the story of Vincent, a woman...

My guest this week is New York Times Bestselling author Juliet Blackwell. Juliet is a prolific writer. She’s written three mystery series, including the Agatha Award nominated Art Lover’s Mystery series, as well as six novels set in France. Her latest novel, The Paris Showroom, is the story of an estranged mother and daughter, set to the backdrop of 1944 Paris. We follow mom Capucine as she’s taken to a little-known prison camp in the heart of Paris, and daugher Mathilde as she slowly opens...

My guest this week is author and podcast host Sutanya Dacres. Sutanya’s podcast “Dinner for one” has been featured in The New York Times and the BBC Radio Hour, and she has just released her first book, “Dinner For One: How Cooking in Paris Saved Me.” Sutanya’s memoir is an honest look into what happened when her world fell apart and she found herself alone, divorced, in her 30s, in a foreign land. Through her generous, open and insightful writing, we feel her fall in love, we hear her heart...

What would you do if you received a text message saying the person you love most in the world is in danger and the only way to save them is to play “The Game?” You can tell no one and, worst yet, there will only be one survivor. My guest this week is author Scott Kershaw and his debut novel “The Game” is a psychological thriller, mystery, suspense and horror novel all rolled into one. Curious to meet the man behind “The Game?” Listen in as Scott shares why he chose the places and characters...