Penelope Rowlands
Paris Was Ours: Thirty-Two Writers Reflect on the City of Light
(Algonquin Books, February 2011)
Paris is “the world capital of memory and desire,” concludes one of the writers in this intimate and insightful collection of memoirs of the city. Living in Paris changed these writers forever. In thirty-two personal essays–more than half of which are here published for the first time–the writers describe how they were seduced by Paris and then began to see things differently. They came to write, to cook, to find love, to study, to raise children, to escape, or to live the way it’s done in French movies, they came from the United States, Canada, and England; from Iran, Iraq, and Cuba; and–a few–from other parts of France. And they stayed, not as tourists, but for a long time; some are still living there. They were outsiders who became insiders, who here share their observations and revelations. Some are well-known writers: Diane Johnson, David Sedaris, Judith Thurman, Joe Queenan, and Edmund White. Others may be lesser known but are no less passionate on the subject.
Praise for Paris Was Ours
“Speaking of romantic, Paris doesn’t merely put visitors in the mood; the city itself is the object of mad crushes. This diverse collection of reflections is a testament to that passion. How we try to fit in: ‘I do my best to act like a Parisian,’ Ms. Rowlands writes in her own piece. ‘I smile only when I actually have something to be happy about, and I cut in line whenever I can.’ How we start wearing scarves: “Ditto the purse, a preoccupation that steals in on you like fog,’ writes Diane Johnson. Stacy Schiff may encapsulate the thrill of having been an American in Paris best: ‘It did what a foreign adventure is supposed to do — it made the mundane thrilling.’”
–The New York Times
“Rowlands compiles into one volume 32 works, about half of which have never been seen before, by different writers who relay their experiences of living in Paris. Although the contributors are as mixed a bag as the City of Light’s 20 arrondissements, they report universal similarities: In Paris, the customer is, if ever, only rarely “right.” The city’s taunting, melancholy beauty is unsurpassed. And any moment passed in the Luxembourg Gardens can be considered time well spent. Rowlands does a seamless job of presenting a city as seen by so many eyes (those of David Sedaris, Stacey Schiff, and Zoé Valdés, to name a few) that readers who’ve visited will recognize as their own memories, and those who haven’t will glean a globally in-depth portrait. (The piece by a Parisian single-mom, blogging about her homelessness, is particularly poignant.) Judith Thurman perhaps sums up the whole endeavor best when she writes that “one of the greatest charms of having lived [in Paris] is the Proustian glamour of being able to claim that one did so.”
–Booklist (Starred Review)
“In Paris Was Ours, Penelope Rowlands culled 32 essays, stories and poems, some original, some previously published, from writers who include professors, single mothers, gay men, a homeless woman, a wealthy Iranian and a poor young Cuban. The collection takes some of the shine off Paris but not the allure — not unlike the pull of a troubled but passionate lover who could never be more than a fling.”
–The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Penelope Rowlands was born in London, raised there and in New York, and has also lived in Paris. A journalist and critic, she has contributed to Vogue, Architectural Digest, The New York Times, and The Daily Beast, among other publications. Her most recent book, A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters, was a biography of the legendary editor of Harper’s Bazaar.