The Last Baron

A riveting on-the-edge-of-your-seat story about the famous 1970s Patty Hearst-style kidnapping of Baron Edouard "Wado" Empain, juxtaposed with the story of his famous grandfather, the first Baron, who built the Paris Metro, all with the fascinating alternating backgrounds of both Belle Epoque and 1970s high-fashion Paris. What does it take to create a dynasty? What does it take to keep one alive? And what does it take to keep one man alive, once the society surrounding wealth, power, and influence in 1970s France begins to crumble, and society begins to question it all? Beginning in 1896, the first Baron Empain built both the Paris Metro and an empire from France to Belgian to Egypt that his grandson, Edouard (aka Wado) would inherit, diversify, and expand in the 1960s and 70s. But by 1978, the world had turned against industry and wealth, with high-profile kidnappings like Patty Hearst's happening around the globe. Alan Callioll, then a small-time gangster who had grown up in vastly different circumstances but was no less brilliant, and saw an opportunity. He and his confederates executed a successful kidnapping, snatching Wado off the Paris streets, sure that they'd get the 2 million francs they demanded in ransom. But nothing unfolded as the team, or Wado himself, excepted. Would Wado's company pay? How much was a leader, and a person, worth? And could the French police outsmart the kidnappers? The roots of each question lay deep in the past, back into the first Baron Empain's history, Wado's own parents and childhood, and the overall understanding of how the city that the Empain family built just might not need them anymore.