At a time in her life when her friends were retiring and dedicating more time to their grandchildren, Elaine Lewis packed her bags and decamped to Paris to open the first Australian bookshop on the Left Bank. With the help of locals and visiting Australians, she created a bookshop in the heart of the St-Germain-des-Prés literary quarter that became a home away from home for Australian writers and artists in Paris. The vivacious Elaine, in her cherry-red cape with matching cherry-red lipstick, played host to events, readings, and midnight swims in the Seine. But when the Paris police department threatened to close down her shop, Elaine and her many supporters were faced with a bureaucratic battle that quickly became stranger than fiction...
