The following books have been recommended by our our experts as "essential
reading" for the serious Francophile. Click on the book covers to
read more or to order online through Amazon.co.uk
Living & Working in France - a
survival handbook by David Hampshire
The book for visitors, holiday-home owners,
retirees, students, employees, immigrants, business people
and anyone else planning to spend some time in France.
An invaluable guide on how to know and enjoy France &
the French. Reading this book before you go to France will
help pre-empt any negative attitudes about with the country
and the people that may crop up once the rose-tinted spectacles
wear off.
Perigord Summer (and Un ete en Perigord)
by Julianna Simor Lees
published by Perigord Press
Jane Mason is twelve : plump, dreamy and no good at sport.
She loves history; and on holiday in the Dordogne with her
mother and their friends, she falls prey to strange dreams
and encounters people from the past. Eleanor of Aquitaine,
a troubadour and a Cathar hermit entrust her with a dangerous
mission. Her fears reach fever pitch when reality overtakes
her fantasies and she is literally plunged into the terrifying
orbit of the Inquisition.
Suitable for all who love South West France and long to get
beneath the surface of everyday life.
Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only image doing
when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad
a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious
200-year-old farmhouse in the Luberon and began a new life.
In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues
with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the
unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life.
From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling
builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing,
all the earthly pleasures of Provencal life are conjured up
in this portrait.
Despite having already made a spectacle of himself in front
of the locals, Peter Mayle tries to settle into the relaxed
Provencal way of doing things. However, he finds there is
still much to divert him from his endeavours to lead the quiet
life. An urgent call from London requesting truffles leads
Mayle to a shady rendezvous at the side of a dusty road; the
discovery of antique gold coins at the bottom of the garden
turns into a night-time treasure hunt; the prospect of forest
fires has him nervously looking over his shoulder; and he
even tracks down a man whose ambition is to make toads sing
the "Marseillaise".
This is a continuation of Peter Mayle's account of an Englishman's
life abroad. He tells of a school for noses in Haute Provence,
the mysterious death of an oversexed butcher, the quest for
the finest bouillebaisse and an assortment of characters from
bars and boules courts.
Peter Mayle, author of the bestselling A Year in Provence
has done it again - but differently. Travelling this time
beyond his adopted Provence throughout France, the food and
travel writer has produced a celebration of many of the country's
gastronomic joys. Whether pursuing La Foire de Fromages, the
annual cheese fair at Livarot; a Burgundian marathon offering
runners Médoc refreshment; or a village truffle mass
that concludes with a heady dégustation of the newly-blessed
tuber, Mayle takes his readers in hand and shows all. Wide-eyed
yet knowing, ever affable but with a touch of mischief, he's
an ideal companion, the best possible narrator of his lively
food adventures.
Simon Shaw is 42, freshly divorced and tired. As he surveys
the desolation of his former home in the wake of his ex-wife,
he yearns for a life free of complications. But somehow a
short break in the warm seductive air of Provence quickly
turns into something more.
A lyrical and witty account of the year-long transformation
of a "secret" garden in Provence. High upon a hill
in the Luberon region, sits the village of Menerbes. Behind
a ramshackle house at the edge of the village, descending
over seven levels, the author uncovers the perfect Provencal
garden.
THE OLIVE FARM is television actress Carol Drinkwater's lyrical
account of a new life in France; about her house Appassionata
and the trials and tribulations of acquiring an olive farm,
restoring it, farming the olives, overcoming the heartaches
of taking on a 'new' French family and understanding slowly
the workings and lifestyle of a vivacious Provencal community.
Commissioned by The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik spent five
years in Paris with his wife, Martha, and son, Luke, writing
dispatches now collected here along with previously unpublished
journal entries.
Les Woodland has done a good job of researching the little
known stories of the Tour. While all the famous stories are
there (Simpson, Merckx, the second tour etc), the author manages
to give a fresh slant on them which keeps the interest. But
it's the more obscure stories, often either amusing in themselves
or humourously told, which bring the most pleasure. The author
claims to have spent ten years researching his book, and you
can believe it!
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Volume 1 by Simon Beck, Louisette Bertholle & Julia Child
Every serious chef should have these volumes. They prove invaluable
for day to day cooking and cover classical French cusine from
the simplest and yet perfectly-cooked chicken supreme to the
more exotic, like how to cook game and how to kill and dress
fresh crab and lobster.
This guide offers a special illustrated section on France's
renowned cuisine and wine, as well as information on getting
off the beaten track in Caen, where to be seen in Cannes,
places to stay and detailed coverage of Andorra, Monaco and
Corsica.
The Rough Guide to France by Kate Baillie & Tim Salmon
The Rough Guide to France follows its now well-established
format that puts cheap eats, clubs and accommodation above
comfort and style. That is its appeal for the student traveller
intent on making the most of limited resources. The 2001 edition
adds and updates a host of web site addresses and includes
euro price equivalents. Its 100 maps are better than ever
and its listing of map sources in England remains second to
none.
Eighteen witty and brilliant essays on France from Julian
Barnes; Julian Barnes's long and passionate relationship with
France began more than forty years ago. As sceptical observer
on family motoring holidays, assistant in a school in Brittany,
student of the language and literature, author of Flaubert's
Parrot and Cross Channel, he has criss-crossed the country
and its culture The essays collected here, written over a
twenty-year period, attest to his clear-eyed appreciation
of the Land Without Brussels Sprouts. He ranges widely, from
landscape to literature, food to Flaubert, film and song to
the Tour de France. His humour, timing and intelligence never
falter. When Picador published his Letters from London, the
Financial Times called him 'our finest essayist'. Something
to Declare confirms that judgment: it is a great literary
delight.
