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Thursday, February 23, 2023

Book review of Ascent by Cathie Dunn

French Village Diaries book review Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn
Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn


Ascent by Cathie Dunn

 

A brutal Viking raid heralds the dawn of a new, powerful dynasty – the House of Normandy

 

Neustria, Kingdom of the West Franks
AD 890

 

Fourteen-year-old Poppa’s life changes when Northmen land near Bayeux. Count Bérengar, her father, submits to them, and she is handfasted to Hrólfr, the Northmen’s heathen leader, as part of their agreement.

 

To her relief, Hrólfr leaves immediately in search of further conquest, only returning to claim her years later. In the face of retaliating Franks, they flee to East Anglia, where she gives birth to their son and daughter.

 

When Hrólfr and Poppa return to reclaim Bayeux, his new campaign strikes at the heart of Frankish power, and King Charles of the West Franks offers him a pact he cannot refuse. In exchange for vast tracts of land in Neustria, Hrólfr must convert to Christianity and accept marriage to Gisela, the king’s illegitimate daughter.

 

Poppa’s world shatters. She remains in Bayeux, with her daughter, Adela. When Gisela arrives one day, demanding she hand over Adela, to be raised in Rouen, Poppa’s patience is at an end. But Gisela makes for a dangerous enemy, and only one woman will survive their confrontation high up on the cliffs.

 

Will Poppa live to witness the dawn of a new era?

 

ASCENT is the first in a new series about the early women of the House of Normandy – women whose stories have been forgotten through time.

Until now!

 

Readers of Viking and medieval fiction will enjoy ASCENT, a fictional account of the life of Poppa of Bayeux, handfasted wife of Rollo the Viking.

 

Trigger warning: Loss of a child. Some battle and fighting scenes.



French Village Diaries book review Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn
Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn

 

My Review

I love historical fiction and especially novels based around real characters, with a story that adds flesh to their bones and brings them back to life. However, working in a museum dedicated to 19th century French rural life and the industrial revolution, that is housed in a Renaissance château, meant I had little knowledge of the era of history that this book is set in. My early worries that I wouldn’t connect with the story, characters or period were soon forgotten. 

 

Life at this time was harsh, with so much to battle with, from the constant threat of invasion or attack to the cruel weather, illness and disease. The descriptions in the book made it easy to immerse myself in the action and Poppa was a powerful character who I grew to love. Her relatively comfortable, privileged position as the daughter of the local Count was thrown into turmoil when their village was invaded. Where she was feisty and angry, her father was weak and complying, and to keep the peace, negotiated his daughter’s hand, binding her to Hrólfr. It might not have been her choice, but Poppa showed wisdom beyond her years and watching the changing dynamics of their unusual relationship was a delight that kept me turning the pages. The emotional side left me with a warmth I hadn’t expected.

 

This book is a gem for those who love historical fiction and are looking to read something a bit different. It certainly piqued my interest in this period, leaving me keen to learn more and I will be eagerly waiting the next book in this series. In the meantime, I’ve found more from Cathie, set in Versailles and the Languedoc, that I am now looking forward to reading.

  

Purchase Links  




International Buy Link   

Amazon US 

Amazon UK 

Amazon CA 

Amazon AU 



French Village Diaries book review Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn
Cathie Dunn

 

Author Bio 


Cathie Dunn is an award-winning author of historical fiction, mystery, and romance. The focus of her historical fiction novels is on strong women through time.

 

Cathie has been writing for over twenty years. She studied Creative Writing online, with a focus on novel writing, which she also taught in the south of France. She loves researching for her novels, delving into history books, and visiting castles and historic sites. A voracious reader, primarily of historical fiction / romance, she often reviews books on her blog, Ruins & Reading.

 

Cathie is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Richard III Society, and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

 

After many years in Scotland, Cathie now lives in south of France with her husband, and rescued Charlie Cat and Ellie Dog. Discover more about Cathie at cathiedunn.com



French Village Diaries book review Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn
Ascent House of Normandy by Cathie Dunn

 

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Giveaway to Win a signed paperback copy of Ascent by Cathie Dunn (Open INT)

 

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Friday, February 17, 2023

Anniversary adventures in Angoulême

French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Anniversary adventures in Angoulême


In my post to mark the passing of January, I wrote about my hopes that February would bring us crisp, blue sky and sunshine days and so far, it has delivered. The frosty mornings have looked beautiful, illuminated by the deep orange glow of sunrise, and witnessed from the warmth of the duvet. By lunchtime there has been enough heat in the sun to dine outdoors and as Ed has slipped into the habit of a weekly visit, the washing he’s brought with him has dried nicely outside.

 

This year to help us mark our upcoming silver wedding anniversary, (two months today) we have decided that a cycle tour every month, of a minimum of one night away and one hundred kilometres cycling, is a fitting way for us to combine a challenge with a celebration. You might ask “where is the challenge in heading off for a night away once a month?” Well, when the weather is against you and it is just you and your legs to propel yourself along, a romantic getaway soon becomes a challenge for the mind, as well as the body. It also involves working together to keep each other motivated to carry on, well, February’s challenge certainly involved Adrian doing a lot of stopping, waiting and offering of cake, to keep me motivated to carry on, but it was still teamwork and togetherness, and that’s what counts.



French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Destination Angoulême 

 

Destination Angoulême, Saturday

At around sixty kilometres from home, Angoulême was the perfect destination for our February overnight cycling mini break and having completed previous cycling adventures there we knew where to stay, where to eat out and where to find breakfast. 

 

Our route took us into the Charente department and through our first cognac vineyards before we’d managed twenty kilometres, and it was here I had to stop to take my first layer of clothing off. Our planned lunch stop was in Luxé, just after we crossed the river Charente for the first of many times, where the snack bar by the lake promised a delicious croque monsieur but it wasn’t to be. The thing with cycle touring, even if it’s only two 60km days, is that it’s important to be prepared and pack for all eventualities. As we sat on a bench between lake and closed snack bar, eating a hard-boiled egg from our bag, the tables tantalizingly laid for service, were just visible in the gloomy interior. We had patiently given them their Charentais quart d’heure, the obligatory Charentais fifteen-minute delay, but still nothing. I guess their Google listing stating winter opening times of 12h till 14h Thursday to Sunday, didn’t include the first Saturday in February. 



French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
The Well of Miracles, Xambes, Charente

 

The village of Xambes wasn’t much further on and here we hoped to find a picnic bench to enjoy the emergency avocado salad I’d packed in case the cafe was closed. The signs to the Well of Miracles were too intriguing not to follow and tucked into the flaking wall at the side of the church, we found a small statue of the Virgin Mary and a rather disappointing well. Lourdes it was not. The sign told us to thank the Virgin Mary, which we did, and low and behold, her path led us to a picnic bench nestled in a secluded copse of trees. Maybe had I been more grateful to her, she could have seen to it that every snack bar and boulangerie we were to pass today wouldn’t be closed. 



French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Katie The Tiny Tourer enjoying knitted tree warmers in Var, Charente

 

At Saint-Amant-de-Boixe we swept past the impressive abbey, and closed boulangerie, before continuing onto Montignac-Charente, where we chose the challenge of a sharp climb up to the donjon, only to find it closed. We carefully carried the bikes down a set of ancient stone steps, to arrive at the door of another closed boulangerie. We were now following the pilgrimage route of St Jacques, that has tucked in beside the river Charente from Charroux in the Vienne and will continue with us to Angoulême. In Vars, as well as a closed boulangerie, we had the excitement of discovering a slow puncture on Adrian’s rear wheel and lots of knitted tree warmers in bright colours decorating the village centre. A bit of air pumped into the tyre, for the first of many times, and we were good to continue. 


 

French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Time for a hug on the banks of the Charente


Our final route into Angoulême followed the couloir verte (green corridor) that is sandwiched between the tranquillity of the Charente River on one side and the continual engine roar from the ring road flyover on the other. We first cycled into town this way in autumn 2019 where I clocked up my first 3000km on Katie, my Brompton. We are now well on our way to twenty thousand happy kilometres together and a cake on a bench would have been a fitting way to celebrate, had we managed to find an open boulangerie. At a bend in the river, my eye caught a beautiful old plane tree, spotted and majestic, towering above me like a gigantic, knobbly giraffe. I had to pause for a moment and give it a hug, which is when we noticed an abandoned avenue lined with similar plane trees leading from the river up a long-overgrown track towards a gated property. I bet at some point in time the wealthy owners would have had their own water access, maybe even a small port for exporting their cognac.

 

Home for the night was the Aparthotel situated at river level, giving our legs a different form of exercise as we set off on foot to climb the steep steps cut into the Jardin Vert to reach the ramparts, eighty metres above us. We had a mission to accomplish, namely sourcing provisions for a packed lunch for our return tomorrow and as it’s never a good idea to shop on an empty stomach, we added a few sweet and savoury treats to keep us going before dinner too. This was maybe a touch greedy as despite cycling just over sixty kilometres, it was a mostly flat, easy day on the bike that probably hadn’t burned as many calories as we were about to consume before unfolding the bikes in the morning. 


 

French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
The ramparts of Angoulême and Général Resnier


The top of the ramparts offered spectacular views over the river and back in the direction we had come from. A small plaque set into the walls told of the brave attempt at non-motorised flight by Général Resnier, hailed as the man who gave rise to the idea of France’s first air army. Determined to find a way for Napoleon’s troops to invade England, he trialled his winged invention from this point in 1801, aged a spritely seventy-three-years young. His third attempt saw him ‘fly’ three hundred metres, before landing on the far bank of the river, breaking a leg, ouch. 

 

Our discoveries didn’t end here as we found the remains of a lantern des morts in the garden behind St Andre’s church. These tall stone columns, whose lights were said to guide the soul to heaven, are unique to ancient cemeteries in our area, and always top of my list to visit. I had no idea Angoulême had one, so even though the main body of it had been repurposed as a chimney, seeing the decorative top section close-up was a treat.


 

French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Dinner at Le Bruleau Charentais


Dinner was at our favourite Angoulême restaurant Le Bruleau Charentais, who offer a feast of local delicacies. A shared slate of charcuterie, followed by entrecote steak and chips, cooked in the traditional, local method over an open fire, on full view in the restaurant, lived up to our expectations. All washed down with a Pineau de Charentes as an aperatif and a red Bordeaux wine with the steak. A delicious and well-deserved meal, but I really should have let Adrian tuck into my leftover chips, as I normally would, but somehow there weren’t any left over.



French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Angoulême market and vintage cars

 

Sunday, the return

Our morning began with a walk back up to town for breakfast in the covered market. Here we enjoyed coffee at the Italian deli for only 1€, with chocolatines, Angoulême is officially too far south to call them pains au chocolats, from the boulangerie stall, meaning breakfast was easily achievable for under 5€. Just to add to the atmosphere the local vintage car club had their monthly Sunday morning meet, so we returned with the loaded bikes, for a pre-depart coffee and to admire a collection of Truimphs, Minis, Fiats and more, gleaming in the morning sunshine with that smell you only get from the interior of an old car. When we spied the cannoli at the deli, we couldn’t resist trying one each. These delicious, sweet pastry tubes, one filled with a chocolate cream, the other caramel, worked well with the coffee but would have been a bit too sweet on their own. At least this morning’s pastry fest made up for not getting an open boulangerie en route yesterday and the sugar rush should have been enough to power me home.

 

On day one, I had felt strong, powerful, and able to match every one of Adrian’s pedal strokes. As I glided along, I was convinced 60km wasn’t far enough for these weekends away and we should be upping our game to push further afield. It was a breeze, mainly, I later discovered, thanks to the wind on our backs, an unseen force gently helping us on our way. On Sunday, everything felt very different, and cycling into the wind almost relentlessly, meant even the downhill stretches needed effort to keep moving. Cycling is the perfect activity for us as it enables us to enjoy a shared passion, spending our days together, but our different paces mean we have space for our own thoughts as the kilometres roll by. As I watched Adrian pull further and further ahead of me, I realised there were quite a few similarities between cycle touring and marriage, and no, I don’t mean they can both be a pain in the bum. 

 

Not every day will be effortless, sailing along with the wind behind you and not a care in the world. There will be some days that require more will power and more focus, that take more out of you to reach the same end point. But that is OK, without the tough days, the easy days wouldn’t feel so much fun. For more insightful thoughts on relationships, join me back here following our March anniversary getaway.


 

French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
Cognac vineyards


Our slow progress home continued, with plenty of opportunity to enjoy the scenery around us. I heard not one but two early season lawnmowers in action and at one point we cruised past some delicious prawns sizzling away, being cooked on a windowsill. Out of the villages, we enjoyed fields full of hunched white cattle egrets, a skylark calling above a vineyard and we surprised a woodpecker by our arrival in the woods. By mid-afternoon our February adventure was over, Ed and Pearl welcomed us home with big smiles, and it was time to start thinking about what to cook for dinner and where to go in March.

 

I know some couples would prefer to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a destination more exotic, maybe a weekend in New York for example, but Angoulême worked perfectly for us and our goal of burning fewer fossil fuels. When I discovered a link between Angoulême, New York and our wedding anniversary, that was all the proof I needed that we’d made the correct decision.

 

On 17th April 1524, exactly four hundred and seventy-four years before we got married, Italian explorer Giovanni da Varrazano, (also known as Jean de Varrazane) discovered the bay of New York and named it “New Angoulême”, in honnor of the king of France, François 1er, who’d sent him on his voyage. The king had been the count of Angoulême and this newly discovered world, was for a short time, known as the Terre d’Angoulême. If you don’t believe me, you can read more in Jacques Habert’s book, “When New York was called Angoulême”, published in 1949.



French Village Diaries Anniversary adventures in Angouleme
When New York was called Angoulême

 

I have no doubt we will visit Angoulême again, by bike, and I know there are more treasures waiting for us to discover. 

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Book review of One French Summer by Gillian Harvey

French Village Diaries book review One French Summer Gillian Harvey
One French Summer by Gillian Harvey


One French Summer by Gillian Harvey

 

Only child out of the house – so far out that she’s gone all the way to Australia! A husband, who has requested a break. Life isn’t quite going as planned for Katy.

 

She’s suddenly at a loss, but she still has her friends Sam, Vicky and Ivy. The girls have been there for her through thick and they’re not about to stop now. However, they think Katy might need more than boot camp . . . so they kidnap her and head off to France on a last minute retreat.

 

Can a reset give her a new lease on life or help her win back her husband? Or could there be a new love in her life?

 

She went for a holiday, but it could become the start of a second chance . . . 


French Village Diaries book review One French Summer Gillian Harvey
One French Summer by Gillian Harvey


My Review


This is a book about a middle-aged wife and mother struggling to come to terms with the changes thrust upon her, and Katy was a great character, whose story tugged at my heart strings. What I especially loved was the dynamics between the group of friends, and that it was this friendship group who were core to the story, not the rest of Katy’s family. I didn’t always agree with the choices she made, but I did understand 100% why she made the decisions she did. It was easy as the book moved on, to want her to find the happiness she deserved.

 

As her friends whisk her off for an art retreat, they are all on the verge of learning more about each other and themselves and I felt like I was there alongside them. France as a location ticked all my boxes as they perfected their techniques on the canvas with the local market, cafés, vineyards and more, providing the perfect backdrops. Then there was the romance of France, found in the stones of an abandoned cottage, the meals eaten on a poolside terrace, or in the promise of a new direction. It was easy to fall under the spell.

 

If you would like to escape the winter gloom, you are sure to enjoy basking in the warm glow that One French Summer will leave you with.


Purchase Links




Amazon 

 


French Village Diaries book review One French Summer Gillian Harvey
Gillian Harvey


Author Bio

 

Gillian Harvey is a freelance journalist and the author of two well-reviewed women’s fiction novels published by Orion. She has lived in Limousin France for the past twelve years, from where she derives the inspiration and settings for her books. Her first title for Boldwood A Year at the French Farmhouse was published in September 2022 (read my review here).

 

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French Village Diaries book review One French Summer Gillian Harvey
One French Summer by Gillian Harvey


 

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Book review of The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham

French Village Diaries book review The Last Letter from Paris Kate Eastham
The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham


The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham

 

June 1940, Paris. For days she’s seen the flashes in the night sky. She’s heard the drone of planes and the thump of marching boots. Doors shut as the German flag billows over the Eiffel Tower. Leaving Cora just one last chance to get her letter out of Paris…

The Nazi occupation has begun, and soldiers stand guard on every corner. The terrifying threat of war hangs in the air, and whispers of an unimaginable death toll roll across Europe. But Cora Mayhew has come to Paris from America to search for her birth mother – a fine silver locket her only clue – and she refuses to give up now.

One winter day, the air thick with fog, Cora is on a train – praying that it will lead her to the mother she never knew. But when the train is struck by bombs, throwing her from her seat as the carriage lurches off the tracks, all she can think about is everything she’s left behind.

Bruised and gasping for air, Cora struggles to her feet, shaking glass from her hair. Surrounded by passengers taking their last breaths and crying out for their loved ones, Cora knows she must find a way to send a heart-wrenching letter she’s been carrying around for weeks and return to her dear adoptive family while she still can.

Staggering from the wreckage, Cora shelters in a nearby ditch. But as the cold sets into her bones and her fighting spirit slips away, a German soldier finds Cora and offers her a chance at escape… With golden-flecked hazel eyes, handsome Max Heller is everything a Nazi shouldn’t be: kind, good-humoured and selfless.

With Max's help, Cora uncovers a devastating secret about her birth mother, which makes her even more determined to get home. The key to Cora’s safe journey lies in the letter she’s been trying desperately to get out of Paris. Now she is faced with a choice: place her trust in the hands of the enemy, or go it alone and risk never making it out alive?

A heart-breaking story of love, belonging, and resilience in Nazi-occupied Paris as one woman searches desperately for the truth in the face of grave danger. The perfect wartime read for fans of The Dressmaker’s GiftThe Lost Girls of Paris and The Nightingale. 


French Village Diaries book review The Last Letter from Paris Kate Eastham
The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham


My Review

From humble beginnings as a foundling baby, Cora’s could have been a life without love, but from the moment Evie found her, she was surrounded by extraordinary love and strength. As a young woman, she was independent and stubborn, so when her idyllic life in Paris tumbled with The Occupation, she had no hesitation in doing what she could to assist, and always found the reserves to fight for herself, or someone she cared for.

 

Cora was a fantastic character to get to know and the more her journey played out, the more interesting and enriching the people who entered her life, the more I loved her and this book. As she was thrown from one risky situation to another, there was adrenalin and fear, forbidden love, tenderness and traumatic pain. It was a heart breaking read that moved at such a pace, I had no idea where it would go or what would happen next, but there was always hope. I especially loved the role intuition played, the invisible emotional links that seemed to bind the characters, even when they were distanced physically by many miles.

 

If you enjoy historical fiction set during the Second World War, I am sure you will enjoy Cora’s emotional journey in The Last Letter from Paris. This book certainly has something a little different to offer the reader.

 


Purchase Links




Amazon  

 


French Village Diaries book review The Last Letter from Paris Kate Eastham
Kate Eastham


Author Bio

 

A change in circumstance meant Kate Eastham made the shift from a career in nursing to being a carer for her partner. Determined to make the most of this new role ‘working from home’ and inspired by an in-depth study of the origins of nursing, she wrote her first novel at the kitchen table. Miss Nightingale’s Nurses was published by Penguin in 2018, closely followed by three more in the series. With her passion for history, Kate aims to make visible the lives of ordinary yet extraordinary women from the past. Her current historical fiction is set during the World Wars and will be published by Bookouture. 

 

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Saturday, February 4, 2023

Book review of The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn

French Village Diaries book review The Paris Sister Adrienne Chinn
The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn 


The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn

 

Three sisters separated by distance but bound by love

 

The Fry sisters enter the Roaring Twenties forever changed by their experiences during the Great War. Now, as each of their lives unfold in different corners of the globe, they come to realise that the most important bond is that of family.

 

Desperate to save the man she loves, Etta leaves behind the life she has made for herself in Capri and enters the decadent world of Parisian society with all its secrets and scandals.

 

Celie’s new life on the Canadian prairies brings mixed blessings – a daughter to adore, but a husband who isn’t the man who holds her heart.

 

In Egypt, Jessie’s world is forever changed by a devastating loss.

 

And back in London – where each of their adventures began – their mother Christina watches as the pieces of her carefully orchestrated existence begin to shatter…with implications for them all…



French Village Diaries book review The Paris Sister Adrienne Chinn
The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn 


My Review


This is the second book in a series of four and as I’d not read book one, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I quickly became drawn into the lives of this family and starting partway through the series didn’t spoil my enjoyment. 

 

This book follows three sisters, Celie, Etta and Jessie and their formidable mother, Christina, as they learn to navigate their place in a changing post-war world, following the loss of their father. They may be living different lives, in exotic locations like Canada, Capri and Cairo, having left London to follow their hearts, but they seem to share a curse in their pursuit of happiness, and history has a habit of repeating itself.

 

Etta is dragged into a life of lies and scandals, all in the name of love, and is desperate for an escape. When fate leads her to Paris and the golden era of the 1920’s, she believes she has found what she is searching for. Much as I loved bumping into the Fitzgerald’s and had no trouble conjuring up the roaring 20’s with cameos by Earnest Hemmingway, Josephine Baker and many more, along with the fun and fizz, I felt Etta’s tragedy and heartbreak too.

 

Celie is more down to earth than Etta, but coincidences and chance meetings mean forgetting the life she left behind when she settled in Canada, is more difficult than she imagined. It was her resilience that I admired the most and she was by far my favourite of the four women.

 

Jessie doesn’t have the relationship struggles that her sisters must cope with but living as the British wife of an Egyptian doctor, in a Cairo desperate for independence and with a difficult mother-in-law, life isn’t easy for her either.

 

I enjoyed getting to know these independent and stubborn women and discovering their strengths, ambitions, and weaknesses as I was entertained by their very different lives. Whilst women might have proved their worth during the war years, men were now doing their best to regain control. These women were adamant their voices would be heard.  


This book offered a lot more than just the intriguing family dramas as I had my eyes opened to bits of history I wasn’t aware of, from Egyptian independence struggles to the post war settlers in Canada and the harsh lives that awaited them. It’s ending felt more like an interval pause than a conclusion, but that has left me ready to jump back into the drama I am sure will be waiting in book three.


If you enjoy historical family sagas and especially the 1920’s, a decade that promised so much, I am sure you will be as drawn in as I was by The Paris Sister.

 

Purchase Links

 

Amazon UK 

Amazon US 


French Village Diaries book review The Paris Sister Adrienne Chinn
Adrienne Chinn 

 

Author Bio

 

Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter, a timeslip love story set in Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. Her second novel, The English Wife -- a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland -- was published in June 2020 and has become an international bestseller. Her third novel, Love in a Time of War, the first in a series of four books in The Three Fry Sisters series, was published in February 2022. The second book in the series, The Paris Sister, will be published in February 2023.

 

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French Village Diaries book review The Paris Sister Adrienne Chinn
The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn