Scenes from the Latin Quarter — Henri Murger

Originally published in 1851, Scenes from the Latin Quarter is Henri Murger's best-known work, and the novel upon which Puccini based his opera La Boheme. The novel draws largely on Murger's own experiences as a desperately poor writer living in a Parisian attic, and the lives of his easy-come easy goes club of friends who called themselves the water drinkers because they were too poor to afford wine. A sometimes outrageous, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes tragic sweep through Paris in the late 1800s, Scenes from the Latin Quarter still gives the reader the authentic taste of irresponsible youth and creativity in time and place.