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Books set in Monaco

Two books that put you in Monaco. One, My Life in the Royal Family of Monaco, is by a writer from Monaco and set there. The other is a wider pick, by someone who knows the place well.

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About the literature of Monaco

Very little writing by Monégasques, the people of Monaco, has been translated into English, so the principality is known mostly through books by outsiders. Monaco is a tiny Mediterranean city-state whose Grimaldi rulers first took the Rock of Monaco in 1297. French is the official language, while Monégasque, a Ligurian dialect, is the traditional language of the Monégasques and has only a small written tradition. The casino and the princely court are what most books about the place turn on.

Graham Greene's Loser Takes All is a short novel in which a newlywed couple's stay in Monte Carlo shows the casino culture and grand hotels of the 1950s. Jeffrey Robinson's Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait charts the Grimaldi court and the modern principality, including its postwar reinvention and its politics.

By writers from Monaco

My Life in the Royal Family of Monaco

Christian de Massy

Memoir, 1986

Prince Rainier's nephew recalls growing up inside Monaco's ruling Grimaldi family.

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Wider picks

By long-time residents and outsiders who know the place well, or folk tales, poetry and history with a strong feel for Monaco.

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Loser Takes All

Graham Greene

Novel, 1954

Wider pick: By a British outsider; a short novel, not a Monégasque voice

A newlywed couple's stay in Monte Carlo shows the casino culture, grand hotels and gambling rhythms of 1950s Monaco.

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