Monsieur Romain Gary: Alias Émile Ajar - Aux bons soins du Mercure de France : 26, rue de Condé, Paris VIe

by Kerwin Spire

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 9, 2025

Reviews

[Pirate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining account of how the remarkable Russian immigrant Romain Gary won a second Prix Goncourt (France's equivalent of the Booker Prize) a second time under an assumed name Emile Ajar. The door was indeed ajar and he seized the opening with erm both feet. His nephew Paul Pavlowitch, who Gary himself described as fragile, assumed the public (though appearances were rare) persona and persuaded the powerful publishing family Gallimard he was who he said he was.
The book is excellent at highlighting how insecure Gary was regarding his age (61) and that Parisian intelligentsia thought he was yesterday's man. Hence the joy he should have felt at outwitting them but as you will discover he was hoisted by his own petard.
The tragedy is that this former Free French airman, devoted Gaullist and diplomat would commit suicide in 1980, a year after his ex-wife Jean Seberg did leaving their son Diego an orphan. It was only then that Paul went public and gave an interview explaining why. This is a gripping read, amusing at times and moving.