"Paris police were to my left, and the protesters to my right. Naively, I strolled between them. Then I heard the gunshots."

When a chance friendship offered him the trip of a lifetime, a twenty-one-year-old Barry Frangipane swapped the familiar beaches of Florida for the passion and peril of 1970's Paris. What followed was a year of dodging bullets, begging for food, and escaping a terrorist bombing. All while slowly falling for the girl who'd invited him there - a love that was to remain entwined with Paris forever.

In this warmly nostalgic and sharply witty memoir, Barry weaves surprising historical insights through his fondest memories -past and present - of the City of Light. From the brioche to the bombs, the cafes to the cathedrals, Paris for Life is an examination of what it means to be wholly captivated by a city and eternally changed by its lessons.