*Shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay* Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 by theFinancial Times,Guardian, New Statesman, Observer, The MillionsandEmerald Street

'Flâneuse[flanne-euhze], noun, from the French. Feminine form offlâneur[flanne-euhr], an idler, a dawdling observer, usually found in cities.

That is an imaginary definition.'

If the wordflâneurconjures up visions of Baudelaire, boulevards and bohemia then what exactly is aflâneuse?

In this gloriously provocative and celebratory book, Lauren Elkin defines her as a determined resourceful woman keenly attuned to the creative potential of the city, and the liberating possibilities of a good walk. Part cultural meander, part memoir,Flâneusetraces the relationship between the city and creativity through a journey that begins in New York and moves us to Paris, via Venice, Tokyo and London, exploring along the way the paths taken by theflâneuseswho have lived and walked in those cities.

From nineteenth-century novelist George Sand to artist Sophie Calle, from war correspondent Martha Gellhorn to film-maker Agnes Varda,Flâneuseconsiders what is at stake when a certain kind of light-footed woman encounters the city and changes her life, one step at a time.

Lauren Elkins essays have appeared in many publications, includingThe New York Times Book Review,frieze, and theTimes Literary Supplement, and she is a contributing editor at The White Review. A native New Yorker, she moved to Paris in 2004. Currently living on the Right Bank after years on the Left, she can generally be found ambling around Belleville.