Inspired by George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, A Waiter in Paris is a brilliant portrait of the underbelly of contemporary Paris through the eyes of a young waiter scraping out a living in the City of Light.
A waiter’s job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door … is hell.
Edward Chisholm’s spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its glorious underbelly. There, Chisholm inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep, and dive bars. He scrapes by on coffee, bread, and cigarettes, often working under sadistic managers, for a wage so low he’s forced to fight his colleagues for tips. And these colleagues — thieves, narcissists, ex-Legionnaires, paperless immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers — are the closest thing he has to family.
Waiting tables is physically demanding work, frequently humiliating, and incredibly competitive. But it doesn’t matter because you’re in Paris, the centre of the universe, and there’s nowhere else you’d rather be in the world.

EDWARD CHISHOLM was born in Dorset, England, and moved to Paris in 2012 after graduating from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. A resident there for seven years, Chisholm spent the first four of them working all manner of low-paid jobs, from waiting and bar work to museum security and market hand, while trying to build a career as a writer. Now, Chisholm makes a living as a copywriter/pen for hire, with ambitions of writing novels. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Financial Times.

Edward Chisholm's profile page

A no-holds-barred memoir … [Chisholm] deftly uses the Parisian restaurant as a microcosm for France as a whole, with immigrants, people of color and blue-collar workers at the bottom of the food chain.

Smithsonian Magazine

A Waiter in Paris is a fascinating read which plunges you into the manic and hidden world of Parisian restaurants; it’s vivid, immersive and unforgettable, and also demonstrates that the extreme distance between the rich and the poor has never gone away.

Shiny New Books

In this revealing social commentary, Chisholm shares the appalling working conditions that he and his co-workers faced behind the facade of fine French dining . . . Although the book is set in Paris, Chisholm demonstrates how his stories of struggle have universal appeal.

Kirkus (starred review)

Chisholm brings the restaurant world to life as he relates the stress, pressure, and anxiety felt by all the workers. The long hours, the competition among the waiters, the petty grudges, and the poor treatment by supervisors are all exposed. Most poignant are his coworkers’ stories: they share their hopes and dreams with him.

Library Journal

Chisholm renders the City of Light in vivid scenes of squalor and splendor … Bittersweet and enchanting, this serves as a potent look at the gritty underbelly of a glittering world.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A portrait of Paris is painted by a waiter in this candid memoir that forces you to take off your rose-colored glasses to see the complicated truth of the city. … As he exposes the realities behind a Parisian restaurant’s ‘luxurious calm,’ he exposes the city of love as well.

Town & Country

In time, Chisholm sees that waiting in Paris is not so much a profession as a job that makes escape exceptionally difficult, but by then, he has assembled sufficient tales of drama, trickery, backstabbing, and camaraderie to plot a breakout. Leaving is one thing, avoiding being sucked back another, but with this excellent book he stands a chance. It’s also a sharp reminder that a restaurant is so much more than a room full of tables, but it’s better to not pick at what lies beyond the illusion of culinary sophistication.

Strong Words

Through Chisholm's punchy prose, readers will be taken through his whirlwind career filled with angry knife-wielding chefs, demanding customers, squalid living conditions and panic attacks in the Pass.

Salon

We are always hungry for stories from behind the ever-swinging door that separates the calm of a restaurant from the hot temperatures and hot tempers of the kitchen. Edward Chisholm’s brilliant memoir shows us the behind-the-scenes chaos, but also lets us tour nocturnal Paris and the strange characters he meets. This is a fascinating book, full of anecdotes that would sound far-fetched in a work of fiction, but that are all absolutely true.

Woman & Home

This tough little book documents the experience of being a foreign worker, lost in the understrata of the often exploitative industry from which we benefit. It seems glib to compare it to Orwell when it's more universal, or Bourdain when it doesn't glorify the mess. Not exactly a jolly read, but important.

Financial Times

This is not your travel agent’s Paris.

Winnipeg Free Press

Ah, Paris gastronomie magnifique and … insane shit going on behind the scenes. A Waiter in Paris charts Edward Chisholm’s jaw-dropping experiences while serving tables in the French capital, a demi-monde of sadistic managers, thieves, fighting for tips and drug dealers. Seems like not much has changed since George Orwell worked the same beat.

Evening Standard

The beauty of Paris is stripped, yet miraculously upheld, as I descended into Chisholm’s engrossing account of a Paris I’d never imagined.

The Miramichi Reader

This astonishing book describes a cruel, feral existence and is worthy of standing on the shelf next to George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London as another classic about human exploitation. With this difference. Orwell was an Old Etonian playing at being destitute. Chisholm’s account of the fight for survival rings more wholly true.

Daily Mail

In what could be the Kitchen Confidential for Generation Z, this memoir chronicles the underbelly of one of the (if not THE) food capitals of the world, as seen through the eyes of a young waiter scraping out a living. Certainly, one dreams of cooking, let alone eating, in Paris. But to work in the city’s ruthless restaurant industry means dealing with inhumane hours, little to no sleep, aggressive landlords, sadistic managers, low wages, and meals consisting of little more than bread and cigarettes.

Fortune

Chisholm’s story is immersive and often thrilling. … He’s a fine writer.

Wall Street Journal

Chisholm’s fortitude in the face of hot-headed, violent chefs and infernal fourteen-hour days without breaks in pursuit of his goal is admirable, and makes for compelling reading. An entertaining and enlightening memoir.

Times Literary Supplement

You’re invited to go on a wild journey into the dark side of Paris . . . a world of refugees, exiles, dreamers, sadistic and abusive managers, long hours, and, strangely enough, malnutrition . . . If you’ve ever carried plates in a restaurant, you will love it, and if you’ve ever eaten in a restaurant, especially a Parisian one, you need to read this book.

Radio New Zealand