BOOK OF THE WEEK

Once Upon a Time World by Jonathan Miles: the glamour of the French Riviera

A phenomenal (and indelicate) account of how royals, writers and the super-rich made the Côte d’Azur

Cannes Cannes: a postcard from the 1930s
Cannes Cannes: a postcard from the 1930s
APIC/GETTY IMAGES
The Sunday Times

In February 1934 F Scott Fitzgerald wrote to his editor, Max Perkins, about how Tender Is the Night, his novel about the behaviour of American expatriates in France, should be advertised. “Please do not use the phrase ‘Riviera’ or ‘gay resorts’,” he implored. “Not only does it sound like the triviality of which I am so often accused, but . . . its very mention invokes a feeling of unreality and unsubstantiality.”

In fact there was nothing trivial or unreal about the behaviour of Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, on the Côte d’Azur. They were vivid shockers. Invited to a dinner party, a drunken Scott would crawl around his host’s vegetable patch throwing tomatoes at the guests. They were asked to leave a hotel