Paris to the Past cover art

Paris to the Past

Traveling Through French History by Train

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Paris to the Past

By: Ina Caro
Narrated by: Christa Lewis
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About this listen

In one of the most inventive travel books in years, Ina Caro invites listeners on 25 one-day train trips that depart from Paris and transport us back through 700 years of French history. Whether taking us to Orléans to evoke the visions of Joan of Arc or to the Place de la Concorde to witness the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Caro animates history with her lush descriptions of architectural splendors and tales of court intrigue. “[An] enchanting travelogue” (Publishers Weekly), Paris to the Past has become one of the classic guidebooks of our time.

©2011 Ina Caro (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Engineering Europe France Western Europe Middle Ages Royalty Italy

Critic Reviews

"I’d rather go to France with Ina Caro than with Henry Adams or Henry James." (Newsweek)
All stars
Most relevant  
I enjoyed the sequential history and it’s linking to place. But I’m less interested in the details of where the author ate on the journey. I’m personally in disagreement with the author over both Romanesque architecture and French Protestants.
The reader is competent in American English and expert at American French, that is excruciatingly bad. I despaired over Hewgenotte. I chose the audio book because it was realistically the only way I was going to read the book so I stuck with it under duress.

Great history, excruciating French

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Would you listen to Paris to the Past again? Why?

I have only visited Paris twice and listening to the narration enriches my fond memory of this amazing city.

Took me straight back to the city

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