16.17 - Paris Has Its Reasons
In the FREE le Bulletin: One classroom, one vineyard, one boulevard, one audacious law. Four roads into France — and not one of them straight.
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Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today. Bienvenue !
In this newsletter, you’ll find these wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché
Don’t miss our new Contributor focus feature - Victor Coutard this week.
Don’t miss the PAID subscriber edition of le Bulletin in your inbox: “16.17.a - The Long Way to Paris“ It’s not too late to upgrade & read it←
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy - 2.5.2026
1. This week’s Contributor: Victor Coutard
We’re adding Contributor profiles to the list of the Contributor Page on MyFrenchLife.org — one by one.
Profile #3 - Victor Coutard
Victor Coutard — bilingual writer, Paris-born, but Loire Valley at heart, and the voice behind How to Read France, a Substack devoted to the France that exists beyond the showcase.
Ready to find his work? Come with me…
Head to MyFrenchLife.org and select Zine from the menu.
Click “READ THIS FIRST” and find our full list of contributors.
Scroll to Victor. Click Explore.
You’ll find his full profile there — and everything he’s written for us.
Bonne lecture,
Judy
PS: Any difficulty navigating? DM me or leave a comment below.
Victor’s Substack is: How to Get Lost→
2. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine: new articles
“There are many talented Contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes.
We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
a) Interview: Tilar Mazzeo — Part One
by Judy MacMahon
This interview was conducted face-to-face and is now being republished due to reader request.
Tilar Mazzeo is a cultural historian who has thrown her heart and expertise into uncovering the stories of French luxury brands and the people behind them.”
Her first book,
-The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, made the New York Times best-selling list.
- She has also written The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume and is working on
- The Ritz at War: Luxury in Occupied Paris…”
EDITOR NOTE: Since this interview, Tilar has written several very popular and award-winning books. The list is contained in Part One of this interview.
Tilar researches the historical period, the brand, its industry, and its technology and science, and weaves this information effortlessly into a narrative. Her elegant writing helps bring the characters alive and evokes a true sense of time and place.
Tilar has also written guidebooks on California wine country and is an associate professor of English at Colby College, Maine…”
b) Interview: Tilar Mazzeo — Part Two
by Judy MacMahon
Part Two - the continuation of my interview with Tilar:
How did you start writing The Secret of Number 5 and The Ritz?
It’s funny how one thing leads to another as a writer. So I had just written The Widow Clicquot and two guidebooks: one on the back lane wineries of California, one on Napa. I was thinking about what my next project would be.
For the Napa book, I spent three months wine tasting every day, and your nose is something that gets trained with such regular use. At the end of that period, I happened to be at a friend’s house who was an amateur collector of vintage perfumes. He started pulling out really interesting, older, rare perfumes…”
c) 20 Streets of Paris #4: Boulevard de Sébastopol
by Pierre Guernier
A journey of discovery through Parisian history, one street sign at a time - Let’s go!”
Stand at Place du Châtelet and look north: a long, straight boulevard cuts through Paris like a knife.
This is Boulevard de Sébastopol, one of Baron Haussmann’s grand creations of the mid-nineteenth century. Its name honours the capture of Sevastopol in 1855 during the Crimean War, a victory inscribed not in marble but into the very geography of the city.”
d) Ce n’est pas une Librairie, Part Two
by Judy MacMahon
Dynasties are one answer (see Part One - last week). But Paris isn’t only about dynasties. There’s another kind of bookshop story happening right now, and it’s just as radical.”
It starts with a law. The law nobody talks about.”
Here is the thing about France that the rest of the world tends to miss, partly because France itself doesn’t shout about it. In 1981, the Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, pushed through a piece of legislation so quietly audacious that its consequences are still reverberating forty-odd years later…”
e) The Hidden Chapel of Cluny
by Patricia Russo
Most people walk right past it - or don’t even know it exists.”
Even inside the Musée de Cluny, with its soaring Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and the ancient Roman baths, this little chamber sits tucked away like a secret - a quiet pause, a pocket of stillness and breath.”
I found it several years ago as Paris continued to reveal herself to me - or it found me. The air changed when I stepped inside. The room was small, quiet, almost shy. And yet the space felt full, as if the stones themselves remembered every prayer ever whispered into them. Oh my goodness, do I love discovering spaces that feel like this.”
This is the hidden chapel of Cluny…” wrote Patricia Russo
3. Merci mille fois
“Thank you so much for supporting my work and reading ‘le Bulletin’.
Merci mille fois d’être ici, mes ami(e)s. Thanks for being here.
This week I’ve been thinking about my republished interview with Tilar Mazzeo — a cultural historian who researches French luxury the way a detective works a case, following the scent until the whole story opens up. Both parts are here today, and worth a slow read with a good coffee.
Then there’s Pierre Guernier on Boulevard de Sébastopol — one street, one Crimean victory pressed into the geography of Paris forever. And Patricia Russo, who found a tiny medieval chapel tucked inside the Musée de Cluny — a room so quiet, she says the stones themselves remember every prayer. I love that Patricia finds these places and brings them to us.
Victor Coutard is this week’s contributor focus — Paris-born, Loire Valley at heart, writing the France that exists beyond the showcase. If you don’t know his work yet, I think you’ll be glad you found it.
And if you’re curious about the 1981 law that quietly saved the French bookshop — that piece, along with a great deal more, is waiting for you in the paid edition. Whenever you’re ready.
À bientôt,
Judy x
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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