Hotel Exile

About the book

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NONFICTION**


A FOYLES TOP TEN READ FOR FEBRUARY | A 2026 HIGHLIGHT IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES, EVENING STANDARD AND THE BOOKSELLER

A meeting place for Europe's bohemian artists. A headquarters of the Nazi occupation. A shelter for camp survivors.

This is the true story of how one Paris hotel came to hold the weight of a century.

The Hotel Lutetia is a Paris institution, the only 'grand' hotel on the city's bohemian Left Bank. Ever since it opened, it has served as a meeting place for artists, musicians and politicians. André Gide took his lunch here, James Joyce lived in one of its rooms, Picasso and Matisse were regular guests. It has a darker history, too....