Artificial Fire

About the Book

Panthéon-Paris is a large bookstore in the Sorbonne district. It has the ambiance of an old sailing ship, of a warm stone fireplace or of other centers that inspire stories of extraordinary events and encounters. It is the bookstore where Sigmund Freud confronted Vincent Van Gogh, where André Gide advised a dejected Oscar Wilde, where Jean Cocteau sought refuge, and Picasso found a new love . . .

And hints of employee rivalries could burst into open flame in the French Alps, Japan, the Côte d’Azur, and ultimately, in Alexandria, Egypt, the origin of Artificial Fire.

About the Author