This is Paris through the eyes of five families: the aristocrats, the “low-life”, the Jews, the workers and the merchants. Five different perspectives from the Middle-Ages to 1968, five ways to look at Paris, to be in Paris, to make Paris what it is today. The novel shows the relationship between people and the city; how a city has an effect on its people, and how the people and their beliefs shape a city.

This is a fast read (despite its 800-something pages) and a very interesting look at the main events in French history that have left their mark on Paris.