Like you, I visited Shakespeare and Co. at Kilometer Zero in Paris and fell in love with the shop before I learned about and then fell in love with Sylvia Beach. We discovered the shop after a morning wandering the Latin Quarter where people were perpetually wandering by with namesake canvas bags sung over their shoulders. I googled the shop and off we set, standing in a winter drizzle for 45 minutes before our turn to cross the threshold and be changed forever, by the shop and its original owner.
What a great post! I loved learning about Sylvia Beach. I've always been fascinated by that group of writers including Gertrude Stein who populated Paris in the 1920s. This really adds to my understanding.
Serendipitously, I recently finished *The Lost Bookshop* (Evie Woods) that had Sylvia as one of the backgroud characters. A romance about books as well as relationships, and the magic of bookshops. Now reading a fictionized account of Frances Perkins *Becoming Madam Secretary* by Stephanie Dray.
*Becoming Madame Secretary* was a good read - it's a fictionalized bio, but well researched and she explains her choices of what to leave in and leave out. Heather Cox Richardson posted on Frances Perkins yesterday https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ - It's disconcerting to think that Social Security has been "a thing" for less than 100 years.
Like you, I visited Shakespeare and Co. at Kilometer Zero in Paris and fell in love with the shop before I learned about and then fell in love with Sylvia Beach. We discovered the shop after a morning wandering the Latin Quarter where people were perpetually wandering by with namesake canvas bags sung over their shoulders. I googled the shop and off we set, standing in a winter drizzle for 45 minutes before our turn to cross the threshold and be changed forever, by the shop and its original owner.
What a great post! I loved learning about Sylvia Beach. I've always been fascinated by that group of writers including Gertrude Stein who populated Paris in the 1920s. This really adds to my understanding.
I love her too— so much that I gave her a cameo in my Elizabeth Bishop novel. Thanks so much for this, Kathy! It’s good to be reminded!
I know! I thought of you. :)
Serendipitously, I recently finished *The Lost Bookshop* (Evie Woods) that had Sylvia as one of the backgroud characters. A romance about books as well as relationships, and the magic of bookshops. Now reading a fictionized account of Frances Perkins *Becoming Madam Secretary* by Stephanie Dray.
What a funny coincidence! And Frances Perkins, another great woman. Let us know how that one works out for you.
*Becoming Madame Secretary* was a good read - it's a fictionalized bio, but well researched and she explains her choices of what to leave in and leave out. Heather Cox Richardson posted on Frances Perkins yesterday https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ - It's disconcerting to think that Social Security has been "a thing" for less than 100 years.