Confessions of a Concierge

"Bonnie Smith weaves biography and oral history into this vivid life of Madame Lucie, concierge of a Paris [apartment building] and witness of nearly a century of French history. Both Smith and Madame Lucie are brilliant, flexible storytellers who present life as a continual flux between the poles of tradition and scandal, politics and private life, truth and memory. The garrulous and sometimes manipulative Madame Lucie seems more real than most subjects of biography and history; she steps out of these pages as full-bodied as a character in a novel." ---Ms.