Amédée Violette grows up in modest Paris lodgings, watching the city from a balcony until loss takes his parents and leaves him in the care of the kindly Gérards. As a young clerk he discovers poetry, bohemian friends, absinthe and first love, and must choose between the dazzle of literary Paris and a gentler happiness.
A tender, partly autobiographical novel by the poet of the Paris poor, with a biographical essay. Download the free EPUB.