Tender Shoots

Composed before and during the first months of the First World War, Paul Morand did not publish these stories until 1921. Clarissa, Delphine and Aurora - three alluring and independent young women - are stories set largely in London, a city he loved and which continued to fascinate him long after he worked there as an attaché at the French embassy.Stylish, poetic and highly original, Morand's urbane and witty stories came as a bracing and uplifting breath of fresh air on the French literary scene of the 1920s. They made an immediate impact on writers as diverse as Proust, Cocteau and Giraudoux, and paved the way for Morand's illustrious literary career that was to follow.



Paul Morand was born in Paris in 1888 and after studying at the Ecole des Sciences Politiques he joined the diplomatic corps, serving in London, Rome, Berne and Bucharest. His first collection of stories Tendres Stocks (1921), had an introduction by his friend Marcel Proust. In a long and busy life, he found time to write poetry, novels, short stories and travel books. Morand was made a member of the Académie Française in 1963. He was married to the Romanian princess Hélène Soutzo, and he died in 1976.