The Typewriter and the Guillotine

The “irresistible” (Susan Orlean) untold story of a trailblazing Paris correspondent for The New Yorker, who sounded the alarm about the rise of fascism in Europe while becoming enmeshed in the sensational case of a German serial killer stalking the streets of the French capital on the eve of WWII.

In 1925, the Indianapolis-born Janet Flanner took an assignment to write a regular ‘Letter from Paris’ for a lighthearted humor magazine called The New Yorker. She’d come to Paris to with dreams of writing about “Beauty with a Capital B.” Her employer, self-consciously apolitical, sought only breezy reports on French art and culture. But as she woke to the frightening signs of rising extremism, economic turmoil, and widespread discontent in Europe, Flanner ignored her editor’s directives, reinventing herself, her assignment, and The New Yorker in the process.

While working tirelessly to alert American readers to the dangers of the Third Reich, Flanner became gripped by the disturbing crimes of a man who embodied all of the darkness she was being forced to confront. Eugen Weidmann, a German con-man and murderer, and the last man to be publicly executed in France—mere weeks before the outbreak of WWII. Flanner covered his crimes, capture, and highly politicized trial, seeing the case as a metaphor for understanding the tumultuous years through which she’d just passed and to prepare herself for the dangers to come.

The Typewriter and The Guillotine offers the personal and professional coming-of-age story of an indomitable journalist set against a glamorous, high-stakes backdrop—a tightly-coiled drama full of romance and intrigue.

• “A double whammy coming-of-age story: of Janet Flanner, an American journalist in Paris in the 1920s; of the New Yorker, a brand-new magazine, breezy, giddy, lightweight, and attempting to appeal to the man-about-town reader. Flanner soon finds herself jumping into the deep end, without knowing how deep it is (spoiler alert: as deep as it gets—the rise of fascism, the trial of a murderer); and she convinces the New Yorker to jump right along with her. A remarkable book, highly inventive and wildly original.”
  Lili Anolik, bestselling author of Didion & Babitz
• “Impeccably researched and elegantly written, The Typewriter and the Guillotine illuminates the glamour and grit of interwar Paris through the eyes of legendary New Yorker correspondent Janet Flanner. Mark Braude transports readers from the smoky cafes of Saint-Germain to the charged streets of Versailles, where Flanner witnessed France's last public execution. Both intimate and sweeping, this remarkable narrative captures Paris at its most dazzling and dangerous, and Flanner in a moment of creative alchemy--turning history's darkness into enduring art.”
  Paula McLain, bestselling author of Skylark and The Paris Wife
• “Thrilling, strange, and altogether wonderful, The Typewriter and the Guillotine proves that nonfiction is as dramatic, unpredictable, and compelling as any fiction. Braude’s book celebrates the great journalist Janet Flanner; evokes the darkness of the wartime world; and exposes the fascinating story of a German con man and serial killer. It’s irresistible.”
  Susan Orlean, bestselling author of The Library Book