Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette, Baudelaire, Baron Haussmann, the real-life Mimi of La Boheme, Proust, Charles de Gaulle--these and many more are Robb's cast of characters in a series of stories about the Paris you never knew.

Departure -- One night at the Palais-Royal -- The man who saved Paris -- Lost -- Restoration -- Files of the Sûreté -- A property in Bohemia -- Marville -- Regression -- Madame Zola -- Marcel in the Métro -- The Notre-Dame equation -- A little tour of Paris -- Occupation -- Lovers of Saint-Germain-des-Prés -- The day of the fox -- Expanding the domain of the possible -- Périphérique -- Sarko, Bouna and Zyed -- Terminus : the North Col.