France - BOOKS by French Authors (or set in France)

[Pauline]

Starting this thread and waiting for suggestions. Please post your favorites.

NOVELS

Lisette's List, by Susan Vreeland (author of The Girl in Hyacinth Blue). It's set in Roussillon, Provence, and like most of Vreeland's books, has a tie-in with artists of the area. Recommended by @Roz .

The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson. Set in the Belle Epoque, about a young Englishwoman in Paris to study art. Like the Vreeland, especially good if you are an art lover, since much of the story revolves around art and artists. Recommended by @Roz .

MYSTERIES

Bruno Chief of Police series, by Martin Walker, set in the Dordogne.The latest one is called The Children of War in the UK, where it has been published already, but The Children Return in the US edition. Recommended by @Roz and @Lindy .

Verlaque and Bonnet Provençal Mystery series by M. L. Longworth. "Murder on the Ile Sordou", the fourth in a series, is set on an imaginary island in the Mediterranean near Marseille. Entertaining for its sense of place, interesting characters, and mouth-watering descriptions of food. Recommended by @Roz and @Chris .

Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg series by Fred Vargas. Excellent and quirky, set in locations around France. She also has a Three Evangelists series - mysteries too. Recommended by @Pauline and @Chris and @Ann R (both Chris and Ann recommended these to me and I love these book!).

Note that Memoirs about living in France are in a separate thread.

 

[Roz]

I've read quite a few books set in France during the past year, so I'll list the ones I recall.

My favorites are the Bruno Chief of Police series, by Martin Walker, set in the Dordogne. I've read them all so far, except the most recent one which won't be out in the US until April. Apparently, it's called The Children of War in the UK, where it has been published already, but The Children Return in the US edition.

Others I read last year and enjoyed are:

Lisette's List, by Susan Vreeland (author of The Girl in Hyacinth Blue). It's set in Roussillon, Provence, and like most of Vreeland's books, has a tie-in with artists of the area.

Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog: Sniffing Out the Perfect Plot in Provence by Jamie Ivey. This is the fourth of a series based on the adventures of Ivey and his wife in Provence. Unfortunately they don't seem to be published as e-books; I read them from the library. Actually my favorite was Rosé En Marché: Running a Market Stall in Provence, since it had so much about the ins and outs of markets in Provence. But it seems to have been published only in the UK. I bought it cheaply as a used paperback from Amazon.

Murder on the Ile Sordou: A Verlaque and Bonnet Provençal Mystery, by M. L. Longworth. This is also the fourth in a series, this one set on an imaginary island in the Mediterranean near Marseille. Entertaining for its sense of place, interesting characters, and mouth-watering descriptions of food.

The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson. Set in the Belle Epoque, about a young Englishwoman in Paris to study art. Like the Vreeland, especially good if you are an art lover, since much of the story revolves around art and artists.

 

[Chris]

The other three of the Verlaque and Bonnet books are good too. I love the descriptions of life in Aix, where Verlaque and Bonnet live.

 

[Pauline]

All the Fred Vargas mysteries!! Wikipedia
Steve reads them in French, I wait for the English translations. They are a bit quirky. We found one movie made from one of them and it was good, but have not found any others.
DVD - Have Mercy on Us All ( Pars vite et reviens tard ) ( Seeds of Death )
José Garcia (Actor, Host), Marie Gillain (Actor, Host), Régis Wargnier (Director, Host)

 

[Lindy]

Just finished the latest Bruno, Chief of Police book by Martin Walker entitled Children of War. Excellent! Walker's best yet. And there's a new love interest for Bruno that weaves through the nastiness of the subject matter. Nothing definite - will it continue in Bruno's next case? Hope so.

 

[Roz]

Lindy, you must live in the UK, as we in the US will not be able to get this book until the end of April. And here, it will even have a different title: The Children Return. I don't know why the publishers are so annoying about refusing to bring many books out in the US until well after they appear in the UK.

 

[Pauline]

I added Roz's list to the top post.

I put the Jamie Ivey books in the Memoirs thread. I read the first one and kind of liked it but it was too much about wine for me (as would be expected - the title is "Extremely Pale Rose: A Quest for the Palest Rose in France: A Very French Adventure"). I will push on to the next one though.

 

[Lindy]

Roz, we live in Canada on the west coast. Got the Bruno book at the library about a month ago. There was a waitlist for it, so not sure when it first appeared here. However I checked both amazon.ca (they have a hard-cover version) and amazon.com which as you mentioned is not available till April and with a diff title. Why is anyone's guess. Happy reading!

I have also just finished French House, authored by Don Wallace. He & his wife(both Americans & both surfers) visit Belle Isle, off the west coast of France, early on in their marriage and fell in love with the location. They in the following years, choose to buy a wreck and eventually over a good many years return it to it's former glory. A very interesting saga of how the French (on this island) deal with etrangers (read tourists), especially if they are purchasing property and only living in them for a month or so each the year. The main French characters are hell bent on preserving the Breton architecture & way of life and rightly so. It's an interesting exercise in patience and (mis)understanding of the ways of negotiation between the two nationalities. All ends well, as the Americans over the years become part of the Breton way of life. Both baseball and surfing have a big role in this.

 

[Pauline]

I finally started the first Bruno, Chief of Police book. It has been in my "to read" pile (well, collection on the Kindle) since @Roz first mentioned it! V Good so far!

I was debating French House @Lindy but couldn't decide. I will give it a read. The one that I recommended in the Memoirs thread is also set in Brittany:

I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do): Living in a Small Village in Brittany by Mark Greenside (Kindle version available), 2008. See comments in post below.

Perhaps I should not have split this book discussion into the two types, since I can't keep them straight. I will add your comments on French House to the memoirs thread.

 

[Lindy]

Don't be surprised if you find yourself quite enamored with Bruno.......if only you could be invited round for dinner. FYI there is a blog about him complete with his wine choices, his cooking/recipes, garden and his village. Makes you want to jump on a plane right now! Walker has created a wonderful and endearing character. Long may he write.

 

[Colleen]

I started "Bruno, Chief of Police" but couldn't get into it.
I read about 50 pages - my self-imposed "life is too short to read books that don't grab you" limit - then gave up and traded it in.

I did read and appreciate a tiny Paris memoir called, "Postmark Paris, A Little Album of Memories" by Leslie Jonath. Vignettes from her year in Paris as a ten-year-old, accompanied by related French stamp reproductions.

 

[Pauline]

I finished the first Bruno and liked it well enough. I am not a fan of the food of the Dordogne (I am a vegetarian), but I loved his description of cooking an omelet. Next up for me is the latest Fred Vargas mystery.

 

[Debra]

I've read the first three of the Bruno series and think they get better over time. I read the first Vargas book and have 2 more on my stack.
Does anyone watch "Well Read", a TV book review show?
It's also available online, here's the link. I especially enjoy Mary Ann Gwinn's part of the show, where she discusses not only the guest author, but also other books in the same genre. http://www.wellread.org/the-tv-show/well-read-tv-show/

 

[Chris]

I'd never heard of Well Read, but found it at 4 am on Sundays on the local PBS channel, so it's set to record. Thanks!

 

[Karen Frerichs]

Since I've almost given up on a trip to the Dordogne this fall, I'm thinking of armchair travel instead; so just
started reading this thread:
Yes to all Martin Walker and Fred Vargas mysteries, am looking forward to the Verlaque and Bonnet ones... new to me.

As for "real" books: almost anything by Marcel Pagnol, and Jean Giono (old classics, but good).

Also: "The Lost Upland" by W.S. Merwin (an American poet, but this is prose, short stories set in Dordogne area)
and "The Fly Truffler" by Gustaf Sorbin (another American poet, but prose, and a fictitious memoir, but gives a good flavor of the Provencal/truffle hunt experience.

 

[Pauline]

Steve just finished a detective trilogy by a French writer. He read them in French (bought them for the Kindle on the Amazon.co.uk site) but they are available in English for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

The Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy by Pierre Lemaitre.

The books are:
Irène (Book 1) called Travail Soigne in French
Alex (Book 2)
Camille (Book 3) called Sacrifices in French
Rosy & John (Book 4) - yes the 4th book of the trilogy

Steve said they are a bit gruesome (he reads Stephen King) but he was glued to them for the past few weeks. I will try the first one in English and report back.

EDITED TO ADD: I read Irene and these are very gruesome. Too much violence against women. Really horrible. And no details about France - just about a series of murders.

 

[Chris]

I downloaded the free sample to see if the gruesomeness is too much for me.

 

[Roz]

There's a whole series of books called The Winemaker Detective that are quick and entertaining reads for wine lovers. I guess they are also being made into TV shows in France.

For the next few days the first three (collected into one volume) and the most recent one are available for Kindle at 99 cents each. Winemaker Detective Omnibus and Late Harvest Havoc.

 

[phirhon]

Thanks for that Roz. I really enjoy reading books set in France and have to rely on chancing on them, especially if they are unfamiliar authors. I have downloaded a book by Nell Goddin who writes mysteries set in the Dordogne. Yet to read it, so cannot comment.

 

[Roz]

And thank you, phirhon, for the Nell Goddin recommendation. I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, and notice that I can read her books free. So I will check them out.

If you sign up for the email list on Le French Book, you'll get notified when their new books are published, and usually are briefly available at a special price. Their books are all translated from French, and are mostly mysteries and thrillers.