Books on Paris are legion, but there is virtually none devoted to its rooftops and the vistas they look out into. Rooftops of Paris is an invitation to travel to a new and unfamiliar territory in a city filled with time-honoured historical and cultural icons that many are so familiar with.

This volume of quirky but charming artwork, which provides a view of Paris as seen from its rooftops, represents the creative efforts of French illustrator Fabrice Moireau and Belgian writer Carl Norac. Moireau has undertaken a close study of Paris, surveying it at rooftop level with an entomologist’s eye for detail. In this book, he captures in watercolour the city’s lesser-known nooks and crannies, alongside the famous landmarks, offering unusual angles and new ways of seeing an iconic city. This other side of Paris – this levitated, almost unreal world – is an extravagant mass of ingenious shapes and forms that give protection from rain, wind and architectural monotony. The captions accompanying the paintings are rendered in Moireau’s own handwriting while the evocative and poetical text was crafted by Norac, an award-winning poet, playwright and author of children’s books. The writer goes beyond prosaic description to capture some of the wild and poetic imaginings inspired by these rooftops.