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Sunday, December 8, 2024

Book review of Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid

French Village Diaries book review Stuck in Second Gear Carmen Reid
Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid


Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid

Divorced, Re-wedded. Survived....

Lucie Marshal is absolutely furious! How did she go from being a successful wife and mother to divorced, teetering on bankruptcy, and barely speaking to her grown-up daughter? Even worse, she’s just heard that her moronic ex-husband Miles is marrying a much younger woman in an influencer-style wedding in France #blessed #theone

Lucie will absolutely NOT be going. To hell with Miles, his new teeth, new hair and new wife! She’s perfectly fine...In fact, Lucie feels lost and angry almost all of the time. Just what happened to her younger, freer wild child self, who used to live life to the full?

But then pregnant daughter Zoe needs a lift... and eccentric nephew Deva needs a lift too and now Lucie has somehow agreed to drive her Dad’s beloved old Jag all the way across France to take them to her ex-husband’s wedding.

With a pitstop in Paris, a breakdown, unexpected passengers, and miles of open road, all set to Deva’s showtunes soundtrack – could this be the journey Lucie needs to find a way back to herself?


French Village Diaries book review Stuck in Second Gear Carmen Reid
Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid


My review

It is an emotional time for Lucie as the joy at preparing to welcome daughter Zoe’s baby is tinged with the sadness of knowing that her beloved Dad is nearing the end of his days, and her ex-husband is staging a wedding to rival an A-list celebrity, set in the south of France. 

Oh my! Poor Lucie, but this book was just what I needed. A story to escape into, a wise Dad with spot on advice, a Mum who needed guiding as much as her pregnant daughter and a handful of other characters who made me smile or laugh out loud. Having fallen in love with Carmen’s writing with her personal shopper series starring Annie Valentine, I should have guessed this book would also have French fashion twist. Enter Deva, her nephew and probably one of my favourite characters. He was unique, interesting and entertaining, and thanks to him I certainly know more than before about the extraordinary life of Coco Chanel. 


French Village Diaries book review Stuck in Second Gear Carmen Reid
Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid


There were many surprises in this book, as Lucie valiantly embarks on an unforgettable drive across France with Zoe and Deva, and each situation they find themselves in is more eye-opening and thought-provoking than the last. This might not be a Christmas novel, set during the summer in the south of France, but there is no denying that the message of Peace on earth, Goodwill to Men came across to me as loudly and clearly as if Deva had been singing a Christmas carol. 

I was more than happy to get stuck into this book, so much so, towards the end, putting it down and popping back into the real world became rather tricky. I loved it all, but it was her dad’s positivity, courage and support from the sidelines that will stay with me for a long time.

Purchase links

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Amazon purchase link 

  

French Village Diaries book review Stuck in Second Gear Carmen Reid
Carmen Reid


Author Bio  

Carmen Reid is the bestselling author of numerous woman’s fiction titles including the Personal Shopper series starring Annie Valentine. After taking a break from writing she is back, introducing her hallmark feisty women characters to a new generation of readers. She lives in Glasgow with her husband and children.

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Here is my review of a previous novel by Carmen Reid, also set in France:

Annie in Paris 


French Village Diaries book review Stuck in Second Gear Carmen Reid
Stuck in Second Gear by Carmen Reid


Saturday, December 7, 2024

Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history - La Jungle

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
La Jungle


Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history

 

La Jungle, and what our animals have taught me 

 

At the edge of the small, rural, farming village of Loubillé in the south of the Deux-Sèvres, is a pretty villa, of a style more commonly found on the Atlantic coast. It is curiously named La Jungle and as well as having an interesting story behind this name, it was home to some unusual inhabitants during the war too.

 

Just before the Second World War, Georges Vignolles (who preferred to go by the name Georgio) and his partner Marie-Thérèse Rouffin, also intriguingly known as Marffa la Corse, purchased a smallholding in Loubillé with a simple wooden dwelling. Marie-Thérèse had run away from home at the age of sixteen and the couple met in 1924 at a travelling circus, and in 1925, Marffa began to learn the art of dressage and wild animal taming, despite never learning how to read and write. 



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Marffa la Corse, La Jungle

 

In 1926, aged just eighteen years old, this Deux-Sèvrienne gained the stage name Marffa la Corse following a particularly risky performance at an international competition held on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Starting out with a lion, two snakes and three monkeys, their circus show, called La Jungle, grew, along with their family, with the arrival of their daughters, Georgette in 1926 and Paulette in 1928. Marffa soon became an internationally celebrated animal tamer, and the Jungle family successfully toured France during the inter-war years. As the 1930’s drew to a close, their daughters were singing as well as performing with animals, including wolves and boa constrictors, and Marffa had a pride of fifteen lions.



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Georgio, Marffa, Georgette et Paulette


 

The Occupation put an end to their touring and the family moved to their smallholding in Loubillé, where Marffa’s brother built the villa she named, La Jungle. Whilst it has been a little bit difficult for me to determine exactly how many wild animals moved in with them, and how long the animals remained in Loubillé, there are news reports that talk of lions, tigers, wolves, two magnificent pelicans and a pair of Great Danes to guard the gates, certainly more exotic than the goat farms the village is used to. Those who were at the village school remember after-school visits and the roaring of the beasts that could be heard up to ten kilometres away, depending on the wind.

 

Feeding your family was difficult enough during the Occupation, so ensuring enough meat for lions and tigers can’t have been easy, but Georgio, who seemed to be able to turn his hand to anything, came up with a plan. Their daughter Paulette recounts how her father took over the running of a knacker’s yard business in Javarzay, the owner having been sent to the compulsory work camps in Germany. She would help her father to collect animal carcasses from local farms, hoisting them onto a truck and bringing them back to La Jungle. It was then her job to remove the skins as carefully as possible before the meat was fed to their wild beasts. My neighbour Pierrette has similar recollections in the 1950’s when her father was the local molecatcher, called in to remove moles from vegetable gardens. As young women have smaller and more dainty fingers, they were better able to skin animals without tearing the pelt, which would have been a valuable commodity sold to the textile manufacturers locally.


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Marffa at work

At the end of the war, while Marffa couldn’t wait to build up her menagerie and begin touring once more, Georgio, was content to enjoy raising ducks, chickens and rabbits on his farm in Loubillé, much like we did after our first few years of living here. There is nothing quite as entertaining as watching the antics of your animals, and since adopting two kittens in 1998, as a newly married couple, we have always shared our home and garden with something furry or feathery, until now. 


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Mini, January 2008-November 2024


A few weeks ago, we said our goodbyes to Mini, our black Labrador cross who was almost seventeen years old and the last in a long list of much-loved family pets. 



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Ed and Willow


The cats, Poppy and Willow, had our undivided focus until Ed was born and although pampered indoor babies when we lived in the UK, soon became quite accustomed to prowling in the orchard and hunting in the barns when they joined us on our French adventure. With barns and animal pens that needed filling, the first additions to our furry family were rabbits and guineapigs. Did you know the squeaking of guineapigs deters rats? They proved to be a useful and cuddly addition to our menagerie, but we really should have stopped at the two female rabbits, Hay and Daisy, as when Henrietta joined them, she turned out to be a Henri meaning we soon had more bunnies than we anticipated.


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Ducks in our orchard

In the winter of 2005, a male duck flew into our orchard and decided to stay, persuaded I have no doubt by the fact we rushed to the local market and bought him a posse of female ducks as company. With ducks installed, chickens followed, and fresh daily eggs is still something I miss, especially the rich golden yolks of free ranging birds who would feast on the windfall fruits, or in the case of the chickens, pick the ripe cherries from the lower branches.

 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Mini in 2008

Mini joined us in early 2008, a tiny jet-black puppy who was small (and clever) enough to use the cat flap. She never bonded with the cats, who were already ten years old, but as Hay neared the end of her days, Mini would lie with her on the grass, guarding her gently. The most bizarre addition was Brucie the goose who appeared one Sunday morning in early May 2009. We arrived home to find a gosling looking lost and bewildered in the duck pen, young enough to still have some of her fluffy yellow feathers. Our neighbour told us a bearded man had opened the locked back gate, walked down the garden, put Brucie in the barn and left. She had no idea who he was and to this day, he and his reasons for abandoning a goose in our garden remain a mystery. She was a delight, who was with us for over ten years, laid delicious eggs and was happy to chat back every time I went into the barn or orchard.

 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Brucie the goose

Over the years, we witnessed them all tear around as kittens, puppies, bunnies and ducklings, before calming and slowing down, then eventually growing frail, losing weight and suffering from health issues. Eyesight and hearing failed, teeth fell out, they were not as nimble as they once were, and then came the inevitable incontinence. Willow would curl up, fall asleep on my lap and pee herself, Mini had no idea what her bowels were up to this last year, and Poppy would think she was in her litter tray, but hadn’t quite lined herself up. In short, we have a much better idea of old age than I think we would have if we hadn’t shared our lives with these animals. They have also taught us so much about love and tolerance, especially Yum Yum, the duck, who died of a broken heart after losing his lady companion. 

 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Café stops on bike adventures

We miss them, and the house feels empty and quiet without Mini, but for now, our lives will remain animal free as we make the most of our time to travel and explore our beloved France, by bicycle, before old age creeps up on us and makes adventures impossible. 

Thanks have to go to two local historians Pascal Baudouin and Patrick Ricard, authors of Loubillé Cité des artistes, Dans le temps, for unravelling the story of Marffa la Corse and sharing the photographs.



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths, legends history La Jungle circus Marffa la Corse
Loubillé Cité des artistes
Pascal Baudouin et Patrick Ricard


Saturday, November 30, 2024

Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history - La Dame de Chambrille

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history la dame de Chambrille
La Dame de Chambrille


Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history

 

La Dame de Chambrille

One of my favourite discoveries this year was a mysterious granite rock formation (a geological oddity in an area where limestone prevails), located along a footpath, in the woods, not far outside of La Mothe-Saint-Héray, Deux-Sèvres. Its towering presence is enhanced by the legend surrounding it, and the fact ‘she’ has been named, La Dame de Chambrille (the lady of Chambrille). 



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history la dame de Chambrille
The towering presence of La Dame de Chambrille

 

Once upon a time, many years ago, Berthe, the beautiful daughter of a local squire fell in love with her neighbour, Guy de Tremont. Unfortunately, the elderly Baron de Chambrille asked for Berthe’s hand in marriage, to which her father agreed, despite poor Berthe’s despair. Some time passed after her wedding, when, by chance Berthe and Guy crossed paths once again, and soon began meeting in secret every night, only parting at the first light of dawn. 

 

The Baron became suspicious and followed his wife, watching the lovers before stabbing them one morning in a fit of jealousy. Berthe was petrified and became the rock with a profile of a lady’s face that bears her name, the Dame de Chambrille. Guy dragged himself, despite bleeding heavily, towards his home, where he died, his blood becoming the little red pebbles still visible in the stream that runs through the valley, his tomb, a flat rock found at the water’s edge. 

 


French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history la dame de Chambrille
The red pebbles of Guy de Tremont


Like many similar tales, it might be a sad one and a little grisly, but I do love the magic of a good fairytale, and you have to agree, that rock does have an uncanny likeness to a damsel in distress, staring down at the stream where her lover’s body lay.

 

La Fouace

La Mothe-Saint-Héray is also home to a local delicacy that we have sadly yet to taste, though it’s not through want of trying. The fouace is a round brioche bun, but it’s not just a boulangerie speciality, it too has an interesting story behind it. The name comes from the Roman word ‘foacius’ meaning to be cooked under the ashes, or in the hearth, and it is from this same word you get fougasse from Provence and the foisee from Burgundy, among just a few to be found all over France. The Mothais fouace is said to be the real fouace, as not only was it mentioned in one of the Gargantua books by François Rabalais in 1534 but even in the Middle Ages, pilgrims on the Compostela route to Santiago would detour to stock up on these local delicacies, thanks to the reputation and quality of the local flour. I am always rather excited by a story that links the Chemins de Saint Jacques with food (see here). 

 

Until the war there were twelve fouaciers in La Mothe-Saint-Héray, but more recently the patisserie Favreau was the only holder of the secret recipe, that tradition dictates is only passed down to those who take over the business. Sadly, the Favreau patisserie closed in 2021, and when no buyer could be found, the recipe and manufacture moved to a local Mothais farm. It is now sold in the local COOP, but only from Wednesdays to Sundays.

 

In the spring of 2022 when we set off on our loaded Bromptons to follow the Sèvre Niortais river from its source to the Atlantic, La Mothe-Saint-Héray was our morning coffee stop on day one. We arrived on a sunny, Monday morning during the April school holidays, to find all the boulangeries were closed, despite our need for fuel with our coffees (thankfully the bar was open). Let’s just say by the time we arrived in Saint-Maixent-l’Ecole at lunchtime, I was running on empty. Returning one summer afternoon this year, to explore a bit more, we were able to buy our favourite flans at one of the boulangeries, that we ate in La Dame de Chambrille’s woods, but the fouace once again eluded us. 


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history la dame de Chambrille l'orangerie La Mothe Saint Héray
The Orangery at La Mothe Saint Héray

The Orangery in La Mothe-Saint-Héray is also worth a visit, and as it’s always good to have a reason to return, maybe next time we will be lucky enough to enjoy a stroll around the beautiful gardens and a taste of a fouace. 

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Book review of Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please

French Village Diaries Sisters Making Mischief  Maddie Please
Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please

Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please

Joy Chandler has had enough!

All she wanted was a lovely family Christmas with perfect turkey and luxury crackers. Instead, daughter Sara announces she’s getting divorced...and where is the fizz? And son, John and perfect wife Vanessa announce they are leaving for New York… and are the vegetables organic? And not one of them has made her a cup of tea!

So Joy decides she’s going to leave them all to it and head to France to visit her younger sister Isobel - a break from it all is just what she needs!

Isabel’s potato farm in France might be rustic, but Joy is hoping to find a bit of the old her again. Do her family really only think she's their dogs body? Where has Joy’s joy gone?

Being with Isobel is loud and chaotic and being together brings out both sisters’ mischievous side! And being in France adds a welcome touch of ooh la la to Joy’s life again. Soon, she has a new job, a new man and maybe even, a second chance at living!

An uplifting and hilarious story about living life to the full and always, always having fun! Perfect for fans of Judy Leigh and Dee Macdonald.


French Village Diaries Sisters Making Mischief  Maddie Please
Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please


My review

I couldn’t help but feel for Joy as this book launches into a nightmare of a Christmas, which is anything but joyous and leaves her expectations of a fun, festive, family time in tatters. I was exhausted by it all and couldn’t wait for her to set foot in France in the hope she would find some peace from the chaos back at home. With the rest of her family about to embark on new beginnings, that was what I wanted Joy to find too. 


French Village Diaries Sisters Making Mischief  Maddie Please
Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please


Joy and her sister Isabel are totally different, but with sixty years of experience, they knew how to work well together. Joy soon found her place in the heart of Isabel’s chaotic kitchen and her pottering around in the brocante barn and bookshop was beneficial for them both, as was the challenge of finding out more about their new neighbour Luc.

Eugénie was one of my favourite characters, a Frenchwoman of a certain age and with her own unique way of living – from dressing, to voicing her opinions, to romance, I loved it when she appeared for her morning coffee ritual.

As this gentle, great fun read played out, watching a new Joy emerge, with a fresh way of thinking and feeling about herself and her family, put a huge smile on my face.

If you need an escape this Christmas, head to Brittany with Joy, you won’t regret it.

Purchase links

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Amazon purchase link 

Purchase link



  

French Village Diaries Sisters Making Mischief  Maddie Please
Maddie Please


Author Bio  

Maddie Please is the #1 bestselling author of joyous tales of older women including The Old Ducks’ Club and Sisters Behaving Badly. She had a career as a dentist and now lives in rural Herefordshire where she enjoys box sets, red wine and Christmas.

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Here are my reviews of two of Maddie’s previous novels set in France:

Sisters Behaving Badly 

Old Friends Reunited 


French Village Diaries Sisters Making Mischief  Maddie Please
Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please


Saturday, November 23, 2024

Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history - Jean-François Cail

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history Jean-François Cail
Moulins railway bridge Jean-François Cail 1858


Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history - Jean-François Cail

Today is Saint Clement’s day, patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths, so the perfect day to share the story of local industrialist, Jean-François Cail who was a legend of a different kind. 



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history Jean-François Cail
Jean-François Cail, Chef-Boutonne

 

Who was Jean-François Cail?

 

If you have ever visited our local town of Chef-Boutonne in the south of the Deux-Sèvres department, you may have noticed the name Cail pop up here and there. The main square where the Saturday market is held is Place Cail, the lycée (secondary school) is named Jean-François Cail and busts of the very same man can be found on a roundabout, set high up on the wall of the Hôtel de Ville and outside the cultural centre housing the cinema and library. So, who was Jean-François Cail?

 

Born in a tiny house on an alleyway in Chef-Boutonne in 1804, Jean-François was the third of eight children in a family too poor for him to continue his education beyond the age of twelve. Even at this young age, he had vision and ambition, making a simple potato grater that he sold at the weekly market. In this rural community where many relied on farming to survive, bread was a staple food, that would have been in short supply if the wheat crop failed. Potatoes were typically dried and ground to make a flour substitute, so the ability to grate potatoes made this process much easier for the 19th century housewives. Shunning the life of a farm labourer, Jean-François became an apprentice boiler maker, working with copper and iron to make and repair cauldrons, pots and stills. And so began a journey that took him from Chef-Boutonne to Nantes and eventually Paris, in 1824.


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history Jean-François Cail
Model of the Crampton, Château de Javarzay


Working alongside chemist Charles Derosne in Paris, Jean-François Cail went on to achieve great things. Their knowledge complimented each other’s, and they revolutionised the sugar refining and distillation industries, with Cail taking over the company when Derosne retired. Always looking ahead for the next project, he purchased two rural domains growing sugar beet and farming cattle, where he developed agricultural methods to make farming less labour intensive, including using steam engines for threshing. Jean-François also became the first French manufacturer of the British designed Crampton steam locomotive and as well as constructing metal infrastructure for the railway network, his company designed and built the main building at the centre of the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. In a nod to his early years, during the siege of Paris in the early 1870’s he turned some of his factories into mills to produce flour to help feed the starving population.



French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history Jean-François Cail
Hôtel de Ville, Chef-Boutonne


Having left Chef-Boutonne with six francs in his pocket, he died with an estimated wealth of twenty-eight million gold francs, but never forgot his humble beginnings. He was one of the pioneers of social benefits, offering his Parisian workers housing and health care and he bought what is now the Hôtel de Ville in Chef-Boutonne, refurbishing it to use as an old people’s hospice and hospital for the war wounded.


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history Jean-François Cail
Eiffel Tower - CAIL


He now lies in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and Gustave Eiffel honoured him by including him as one of the seventy-two scientists, engineers and mathematicians who have their names engraved above the arched feet of the Eiffel Tower. 

 

Most visitors to the museum at the Château de Javarzay, where there is an entire floor dedicated to Monsieur Cail, leave with a sense of disbelief that someone who had such an impact on the French industrial revolution, isn’t as well-known (even in France) as his compatriots like Eiffel or Isambard Kingdom Brunel.


 

French Village Diaries Poitou-Charentes myths legends history Jean-François Cail
Jean-François Cail museum, Château de Javarzay