Noon in Paris, Eight in Chicago

Chicago, 1947: on a freezing February night, France’s feminist icon Simone de Beauvoir calls up radical resident novelist Nelson Algren, asking him to show her around. After a whirlwind tour of dive bars, cabarets and the police lockup, the pair return to his apartment on Wabansia Avenue. Here, a passion is sparked that will last for the next two decades.Their relationship intensifies during intoxicating months spent together in Paris and Chicago. But in between are long, anguished periods apart filled with competing desires – lovers old and new, writing, politics, gambling – which ultimately expose the fragility of their unconventional ‘marriage’ and put their devotion to the test.

Reviews of Noon in Paris, Eight in Chicago

'Cowie has captured the tragic love between Nelson Algren and Simone de Beauvoir with heartfelt innocence… and exposes the tender, vulnerable souls of both with a deep sense of empathy.' – Mark Blottner, co-director of Nelson Algren: The End is nothing, The Road is All, 'Cowie brings a disarming voice and a freshness to proceedings.' – Guardian, 'An uncanny ability to evoke time and place… an intriguing novel.' – Scotland on Sunday