'The Dark and Sparkling Story of The French Riviera', this vivid history chronicles 200 years of glamour, intrigue and hedonism. It is a phenomenal work of research across hundreds of histories, biographies, memoirs and letters, from high art to low scandal, taking in fashion, sport, ballet and motor racing. 'It's utterly absorbing, indelicate to a shocking degree.' - Sunday Times. Jonathan Miles tells the story of how an 80 mile stretch of rocky shoreline from St Tropez in the west to Menton on the Italian border became history's first international playground for the rich and famous. He evokes a sparkling but shady Côte d'Azur with a whirlwind of characters with all the booms and busts of the decades, the highs of the Belle Epoque, the Roaring Twenties, and the Hollywood stars of the 1950s which took the area's glamour to a new level. Miles focuses on artists like Matisse, Picasso and writers like Katherine Mansfield and James Baldwin, tracing the impact of this gorgeous seaside on their work and on their personal lives. Here too are Coco Chanel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Diaghilev, Sartre, Stravinsky and Cole Porter in a potent cultural matrix. Well illustrated throughout plus 16 pages of glamorous colour photos. 456pp.
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