The Monuments of Paris: Rewriting Family History

Tuesday, May 12, 2026 From 6:00 PM To 7:30 PM Add to Calendar 2026-05-12 18:00:00 2026-05-12 19:30:00 The Monuments of Paris: Rewriting Family History Join us for an evening with acclaimed author Violaine Huisman as she presents her new novel, The Monuments of Paris, a sweeping exploration of family, memory, and a little-known chapter of French history during the Second World War. French Library, 53 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA America/New_York

At French Library

Following the international success of The Book of Mother, which explored her beautiful, bipolar mother’s life, Violaine Huisman turns in her latest novel, The Monuments of Paris, to two towering figures at the center of her family story: her father and her grandfather, exploring the myths and contradictions that shaped her inheritance and whose legacy continue to shape French cultural life.

Her father, Denis Huisman, emerges as a larger-than-life figure, “an iconoclast, an unclassifiable, flamboyant, Balzacian character,” while the story of her grandfather, Georges Huisman, is that of a man shaped by the meritocratic ideals of the French Republic: a Jewish civil servant, leading cultural figure of 1930s France, and founder of the Cannes Film Festival. From the gilded halls of the Élysée Palace, he rose to the highest levels of the state before losing everything under the Vichy regime, stripped of his position, dispossessed, forced into hiding, and nearly erased from history

Reconstructing a past she did not witness, Violaine Huisman draws on archives and family narratives to trace a path from power to dispossession, weaving in Proustian figures where the record falls silent, and blending historical precision with literary mastery.

This conversation will be followed by a Q&A, a book signing, and a reception.

In person event in English.

Member

Non-member

$10

Praise for The Monuments of Paris

“An enthralling view into a family’s mysteries.” — Publisher’s Weekly

“Another artful family dissection performed by Huisman.” — Kirkus

“Violaine Huisman explores and contests the myths surrounding the great men of her family, using fiction where the official archives fall silent. The Monuments of Paris is a moving elegy for her accomplished, mercurial, outrageous father—and a beautiful act of disobedience.” — Ben Lerner, author of Transcription and The Topeka School

“In Violaine Huisman’s captivating novel, the real monuments of Paris are not its buildings, but its people—a grand, multigenerational family saga, blending the history of France with intimate personal narratives.” — Anne Berest, author of The Postcard

Praise for The Book of Mother, A Novel

Longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize
A New York Times Notable Book
A Library Journal Best Book of 2021
Prix Françoise Sagan and the Prix Marie Claire.

"Marvelous... superbly effective. One develops a soft spot for many of Huisman’s characters, despite their hideous and sometimes criminal behavior..."—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker

"Huisman initially narrates from her childhood perspective, then zooms out to cover the whole of Maman’s life..."— The New Yorker, In brief

"A prize-winning sensation in France, Huisman’s witty, immersive autofiction showcases a Parisian childhood with a charismatic, depressed parent."— Oprah Daily

“That the madness of Violaine’s childhood left her 'deeply marked' is both hardly in doubt and not the subject of this tender, searching book...”— New York Times Book Review

"Camhi’s translation from the French of Huisman’s debut novel conveys Violaine's steady compulsion to understand..."— Kirkus, starred

About the Author

Born in Paris and based in New York for over two decades, Violaine Huisman is a novelist, translator, and cultural curator. She previously ran the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s literary series and has organized multidisciplinary arts festivals across the city. She is now the Cultural Director of L’Alliance New York.

Her debut novel, The Book of Mother (Fugitive parce que reine), was translated worldwide and received multiple awards. It was also named one of The New York Times’ Notable Books of 2021 and is currently being adapted for the screen.

Her second novel, Rose Désert, was published in 2019 by Gallimard. The Monuments of Paris, to be published in April 2026, has been named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Literary Hub.

About the Moderator

Benoit Landon is a journalist and librarian at the French Library, where he hosts book clubs and literary talks. He has interviewed authors such as Éric Chacour, Sophie Divry, Étienne Kern, and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers.

This event is co-presented with Villa Albertine Boston.

This event is co-presented with Villa Albertine Boston

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