“…her form of liberation…” #ParisinJuly2026 #20BOS26 Book 12

July is a month with a lovely event, hosted by Emma at Words and Peace: “Paris in July“, where we read books about all things pertaining to France and its capital. Now I have all manner of possibilities to choose from (so many French books!) and I thought I had two titles lined up and ready to go. However, for some reason they didn’t quite grab me recently, and I got distracted by mention somewhere online of Jean Cocteau (one of my favourite French authors). This sent me off rummaging in the stacks to find out what unread titles by him I had, and the further distraction of Jean Genet resulted in the huge pile of new possibles in my end of June post. However, I also stumbled across a book which has been lurking on the shelves seemingly forever – “Women of Iron and Velvet” by Margaret Crosland – and it became clear to me that its time had finally come! Crosland was an author and translator who specialised in French writers; as well as translating a wide range of authors, from Zola and…