Have you ever hesitated to go somewhere alone? This episode is about reclaiming solitude as something precious rather than something to apologize for. I take you through my favorite Paris destinations for being deliberately, deliciously alone—a hidden museum, an ice cream parlour, and a tennis stadium—while sharing what French writers have taught me about the courage it takes to disappoint expectations and embrace your own company. A love letter to solitude, Paris, and the freedom of being alone.

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Welcome to The Ritual of Reading podcast.
This episode is an invitation to walk through Paris in the company of five remarkable women who refused to wait for permission to write. From George Sand’s countryside tenderness to Simone de Beauvoir’s fierce intellect, from Françoise Sagan’s smoky Parisian nights to Muriel Barbery’s lyrical prose and Clara Dupont-Monod’s historical vision—each of these authors claimed her voice in a culture that didn’t always make space for her.

We’ll explore how they lived, what they wrote, and why their words still matter. These are the women who shaped French literature not as muses or footnotes, but as creators in their own right—writing Paris into being, one page at a time.

Pour yourself a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s meet the women who wrote Paris.

Connect with me:

Website: ⁠https://theritualofreading.com⁠

Substack: ⁠https://theritualofreading.substack.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ritual_of_reading/⁠

Pinterest: ⁠https://fr.pinterest.com/ritual_of_reading/⁠

Support me on Ko-Fi : https://ko-fi.com/theritualofreading

November wraps Paris in wool and rain, and this month we're celebrating the women who wrote this city into being. After a month devoted to French classic authors—all men, as it happens—I'm turning to feminine voices, both contemporary and timeless.

I share three very different reads for November: Lucy Foley's dark, addictive The Paris Apartment, Nina George's healing Little Paris Bookshop, and Tatiana de Rosnay's atmospheric The Rain Watcher. We explore the essentials of Parisian feminine style—red lipstick as armour, signature scents that announce rather than whisper, and the scarf as the city's greatest fashion statement.

There's a playlist of French feminine voices to transport you to a rainy café, and an intimate evening ritual: writing a letter to your younger self, not as a pep talk, but as an honest reckoning with the path that brought you here.

Join me as we honour the women writers who claimed Paris as their own, one deliberate page at a time.

Episode includes:

• Three contemporary novels set in Paris by female authors
• A curated playlist of French feminine voices (listen here)
• My three Parisian style essentials (and why they matter)
• An evening ritual for November: letters to the self

Stay in touch

Website: ⁠https://theritualofreading.com⁠

Substack: ⁠https://theritualofreading.substack.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ritual_of_reading/⁠

Pinterest: ⁠https://fr.pinterest.com/ritual_of_reading/⁠

Support me on Ko-Fi : https://ko-fi.com/theritualofreading