
The Man in the Red Coat (Hardback)
Julian Barnes (author)- Save £2.01
- In stock

In this dazzling study of Belle Epoque Paris, Julian Barnes trains his novelist’s eye on the life of Samuel Pozzi – a maverick nineteenth-century surgeon, free-thinker and bon viveur.
Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Novel Award 2020
The Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending takes us on a rich, witty tour of Belle Epoque Paris, via the life story of the pioneering surgeon Samuel Pozzi
In the summer of 1885, three Frenchmen arrived in London for a few days' shopping. One was a Prince, one was a Count, and the third was a commoner with an Italian name, who four years earlier had been the subject of one of John Singer Sargent's greatest portraits. The commoner was Samuel Pozzi, society doctor, pioneer gynaecologist and free-thinker - a rational and scientific man with a famously complicated private life.
Pozzi's life played out against the backdrop of the Parisian Belle Epoque. The beautiful age of glamour and pleasure more often showed its ugly side: hysterical, narcissistic, decadent and violent, a time of rampant prejudice and blood-and-soil nativism, with more parallels to our own age than we might imagine.
The Man in the Red Coat is at once a fresh and original portrait of the Belle Epoque - its heroes and villains, its writers, artists and thinkers - and a life of a man ahead of his time. Witty, surprising and deeply researched, the new book from Julian Barnes illuminates the fruitful and longstanding exchange of ideas between Britain and France, and makes a compelling case for keeping that exchange alive.
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9781787332164
Number of pages: 280
Weight: 883 g
Dimensions: 219 x 174 x 174 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'He paints a fin de siècle landscape of languid princesses, expensive whores, orgiastic balls…wit and a lot of gossip.' - The Times
You may also be interested in...
“A magnificent evocation of La Belle Epoque, a celebration of the Anglo-French relationship, and a warning for the future...”
Taking inspiration from John Singer Sargent’s striking portrait ‘Dr Pozzi at Home’ (a work that also illustrates the book’s dust jacket), Julian Barnes uncovers the life of Dr Samuel Pozzi, otherwise known as The Man... More
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?
Click & Collect
Please note that owing to current COVID-19 restrictions, many of our shops are closed. Find out more by clicking here.