French Book Friday
The First French Book Friday of the year and a package of Frenchness to start the year.
Lounge around in the Cote d’Azur….The Fountain in the Forest
Story – a man is murdered in a London theatre and another Englishman named JJ is invited to visit an extraordinary abandoned village in the mountains above Nice. He falls head over heels with the unattainably beautiful Sylvie. Their lives are about to change…
Fictional but oh so enticing – “The village of La Fontaine-en-Forêt might be fictional, but it’s inspired by places in the Cote d’Azur : the monumental 19th century Fontaine du Peyra in Vence; the simple Moorish architecture of Tourettes-sur-Loup; the gorges carved through this landscape; the menhir at Courmettes; and of course the Baous.”
The Fountain in the Forest
Dance away the day in Paris – Renoir’s Dancer
Set in the 1880s, this is the secret life of Suzanne Valadon, muse, dancer and enigma. She grew up in poverty and escaped by painting. “Rebellious and opinionated, she refused to be confined by tradition or gender, and in 1894, her work was accepted to the Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, an extraordinary achievement for a working-class woman with no formal art training.”
See the Royal side of the city – Another Woman’s Husband
A story of secrets and lies weaving the fascinating story of Wallis Simpson and a certain Princess Diana…
Visit a French castle – The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters
If you’ve ever dreamed of lving in a French castle one day, and maybe even being left one by someone….well this is the book for you. It might sound like a fairy tale but it happens to Wendy Clayton when her elderly neighbour, Eulalie, passes away and leaves her the Château of Happily Ever Afters! But there’s a catch: she must share the sprawling French castle with Eulalie’s long-lost nephew, Julian. And that’s where the real story begins..
Walk along the cobbled streets of the Dordogne – The Templars’ Last Secret (Bruno 10 )
In the beautiful Dordogne, the body of a woman has been found outside a cave beneath the ruined Templar chateau of Commarque. It’s obvious she died of a broken neck. But did she fall or was she pushed? The templar castle has been hidden in plain sight – but is the death of this woman symbolic?
The setting is fictional but Martin Walker draws inspiration for the town from the region in which he lives, such as Saint-Cyprien, Belvès, Les Eyzies, Siorac, Eymet, and Sainte-Alvère. Saint-Denis is located somewhere along the River Vézère.
