The House I Loved / Tatiana de Rosnay

The grandiose avenues and squares of Paris, the impossible conceit of l’Etoile, the romantic uniformity of the golden stone facades and their wrought iron balconies—all this was imposed upon a medieval network of streets and passages. In the course of about fifteen years in the mid-1800s entire streets and neighborhoods were literally wiped off the map to make room for the new triumphant boulevards, parks, and grand public spaces. What effect did this have on the people of Paris and their neighborhoods? Tatiana de Rosnay (Sarah’s Key) attempts to investigate this by recreating a historic street that is scheduled to yield to Baron von Haussmann’s wrecking crews in order to make room for the new Boulevard Saint-Germain. Rose Bazelet, a widow, is the homeowner at the center of the story, a person whose life is so rooted in the neighborhood and the very house in which she lives, that she cannot consider abandoning it. Her life story is revealed chapter by chapter as the demolition team approaches her secret hiding place in her beloved home.

A fascinating insight into a particular time in Parisian history, this story reminded me a bit of Tracy Chevalier’s historical novels and made me want to find out more about Paris before it was transformed into the beauty it is today—we know what was gained, but The House I Loved attempts to show the reader what was lost.

[Oh, and the cover of the book is totally wrong—whoever photoshopped it and whoever approved it never read the story. But I don’t much like the British version either. The best one I saw was probably the Norwegian version since it gave a glimpse of an old neighborhood that was lost.]

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