Riot Recommendation

Riot Recommendation: 35 of Your Favorite Novels Set in Paris

Vanessa Diaz

Managing Editor

Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.

Flatiron Books, publisher of The Paris Hours by Alex George.

One day in the City of Light. One night in search of lost time. Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But amidst the dazzling creativity of the city’s most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they’ve lost. Told over the course of a single day in 1927, The Paris Hours takes four ordinary people whose stories, told together, are as extraordinary as the glorious city they inhabit.

What is it about Paris that captivates us so?  Is it the sidewalk cafés, those strolls along the Seine, the majesty of the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées? We love a book that transports us straight to the the City of Light, that’s why we asked our Riot Readers for their favorite works of fiction set in Paris! You gave us everything from contemporary love stories to historical mysteries in both adult and YA, a mix of new books, classics, and backlist faves. Without further ado, here are your favorite works of fiction set in Paris- we can’t wait to get lost in those pages!


Aimee Leduc Investigations series by Cara Black

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

The Afterlife of Stars by Joseph Kertes

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Code Name: Grand Guignol by Ib Melchior

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

The Devils Are All Here by Louise Penny

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Five Days in Paris by Nora Roberts

The Forger by Paul Watkins

French Exit by Patrick Dewitt

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

History of Violence by Édouard Louis

The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Murder in Pigalle by Cara Black

Paris by Edward Rutherfurd

Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan

The Paris Architect by by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson

Pure by Andrew Miller

Rodin’s Lover by Heather Webb

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman