Pandemic Marriage, Ménage, & Me

Yes, I’m Turning 50. No, I’m Not Really Ready.

Someone does still want to sleep with you, but you don’t get to decide who that is. And other lessons for my next decade.

A lime-green dress turned me into a sexpot

Pamela Druckerman recounts the outfit that prompted an orgy in her absence

Shopping with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Pamela Druckerman meets Nigeria’s most famous living author

It’s hard to buy a dress in a pandemic

With coronavirus closing in on Paris, Pamela Druckerman admits defeat

The Bad News About Helicopter Parenting: It Works

New research shows that hyper-involved parenting is the route to kids’ success in today’s unequal world.

The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Frenchwoman

‘I would like 50-year-old women to stop sending me photos of their bottoms and breasts,’ a French writer pleaded.

The Life-Changing Magic of Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo’s decluttering technique has always been refreshingly strange: Make a pile of all your clothes—down to the last pair of socks—then discard anything that doesn’t “spark joy.” Repeat this with books, papers, and the contents of your kitchen cabinets.

The Woman Who Still Finds Louis C.K. Lovable

The French comedian Blanche Gardin is taking on all of feminism’s orthodoxies.

The News Is Bad in Hungary

Viktor Orban didn’t like what the press was reporting, so he took it over.

How to Survive Your 40s

If you want to know how old you look, just walk into a French cafe. It’s like a public referendum on your face.

Are the French the New Optimists?

Americans used to be full of hope. No longer.

What Are the French Doing to Protect Jews? A Lot.

This isn’t World War II all over again.

Are iPhones Bad for Kids?

Two new books — Anya Kamenetz’s “The Art of Screen Time” and Naomi Schaefer Riley’s “Be the Parent, Please” — offer advice to anxious parents.

How Do You Say ‘Hail Mary’ in French?

I’ve lately been telling French people about the Hail Mary pass. I explain that it’s a desperate move in American football: You’re running out of time to score, so you lob the ball toward the end zone and hope for the best.

Podcasts Are the New Xanax

I’m not an early adopter. I’ll only start wearing new styles of clothing once they’re practically out of date, and I won’t move into a neighborhood until it’s fully saturated with upscale coffee shops. I was the last person I know to download music and to stop paying for long-distance phone calls.

‘If I Sleep for an Hour, 30 People Will Die’

It’s 1944, in occupied Paris. Four friends spend their days in a narrow room atop a Left Bank apartment building. The neighbors think they’re painters — a cover story to explain the chemical smell. In fact, the friends are members of a Jewish resistance cell.

Why Rich People Make the French Squirm

With Paris now competing to become Europe’s post-Brexit financial capital, France’s fraught relationship with wealth is under global scrutiny.

How to Talk to Children About Terrorism

Even in tough times, parents should tell them the truth — often in simple terms — and help them process it.

Eat Up. You’ll Be Happier.

My father-in-law, an anthropologist, likes to talk about the time he ate dog penis. He was visiting a remote town in South Korea, and the mayor invited him to lunch. Once they’d finished the dog soup (not a big deal), a waitress carried out the boiled penis on a silver plate. The mayor cut it lengthwise with scissors, then served half to each of them.

Decoding the Rules of Conversation

As an American married to an Englishman and living in France, I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to decode the rules of conversation in three countries. Paradoxically, these rules are almost always unspoken.