Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Can happy-ever-after get lost in translation?
The French for Love
What you need to know before your trail
Gina has lost her perfect job, her boyfriend and her favourite aunt all within the space of a few months.
So when she inherits her aunt’s ramshackle French house, Gina decides to pack her bags for the Bordeaux countryside – swapping English weather for blue skies, sunshine, great wine and a fresh start.
What she hasn’t factored in is a hole in the roof, the most embarrassing language faux pas, and discovering family secrets that she was never supposed to know.
Suddenly feeling a long way from home, Gina will have to rely on new found friends, her own hard work – and Cédric – her charming, mysterious and très handsome new stonemason.
But whilst desire needs no translation, love is a different matter. Can Gina overcome the language barrier to make her French dream come true?
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
France – Bordeaux
The journey starts on a ferry as Gina heads out to France and is amazed as the view of St Malo appear through the mist.
That’s only the start of her French adventure. She drives along the road that runs past St Emilion to Saint Foy La Grande and is soon on her way.
“It’s early June, but feels like high summer already, and the leaves on the lime trees are a dense, dark green. As my hearing adjusts, I realise the sound I’m hearing is coming from their fresh-scented pale yellow flowers which are abuzz with bees in the golden warmth of the evening”
Author Fiona Valpy shows you around:
Sainte Foy La Grande
Marketplace
The marketplace in Sainte Foy La Grande – it makes an appearance in all three books and is a real focal point in the local community. The Saturday morning market has been voted one of the best in France
The Bar des Arcades
The Bar des Arcades in the market place in Sainte Foy La Grande – this is where many people sit to sip a coffee and watch the world go by, meeting friends and catching up. It’s where Gina and Liz go, only to be ambushed by the awful Nigel.
The Mairie
The Mairie in Sainte Foy’s marketplace. This is the building that the Thibault brothers are renovating when Gina comes to find Cedric.
Port Sainte Foy
The restaurant overlooking the river – ‘Au Fil de l’Eau’ – across the bridge from Sainte Foy La Grande in Port Sainte Foy, where Gina and Annie spend an evening
Streetview Maps
D) Sainte-Foy-la-Grande - train station
E) Sainte-Foy-la-Grande -The River
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The French for Love
Destination: Bordeaux, Sainte-Foy-la-Grande Author/Guide: Fiona Valpy Departure Time: 2000s
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