Book review of Death at the Paris Exposition by Frances McNamara

Death at the Paris Exposition
by France McNamara

Death at the Paris Exposition

(historical mystery) Release date: September 1, 2016 at Allium Press of Chicago ISBN: 978-0-9967558-3-2 ebook: 978-0-9967558-4-9 276 pages Website Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

Amateur sleuth Emily Cabot's journey once again takes her to a world fair, the Paris Exposition of 1900. Chicago socialite Bertha Palmer is named the only female U. S. commissioner to the Exposition and enlists Emily's services as her secretary. Their visit to the House of Worth for the fitting of a couture gown is interrupted by the theft of Mrs. Palmer's famous pearl necklace. Before that crime can be solved, several young women meet untimely deaths and a member of the Palmer's inner circle is accused of the crimes. As Emily races to clear the family name she encounters jealous society ladies, American heiresses seeking titled European husbands, and more luscious gowns and priceless jewels. Along the way, she takes refuge from the tumult at the country estate of Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. In between her work and sleuthing, she is able to share the Art Nouveau delights of the Exposition, and the enduring pleasures of the City of Light, with her husband and their children.

MY REVIEW

This is the sixth novel in the Emily Cabot series, but my first experience and I immediately felt at home with Emily. She is intelligent, organised, inquisitive and determined. It was very easy to slip into her narrative and I enjoyed experiencing Paris in 1900 with her.

Emily and her family are in Paris with the wealthy Palmer family as Emily is working as social secretary for Bertha Palmer, the only woman US commissioner at the Exposition. She becomes part of their social circle, experiencing the fashion houses of Paris and the engagements that must be organised and attended, however things don’t go as smoothly as expected when jewellery is stolen and bodies are discovered. Emily is loyal to her employer and determined to clear the Palmer name, despite the French police and some of their social circle who seem just as determined to prove the guilt. At some point during the book I suspected every character we met and couldn’t wait to find out exactly who was behind the thefts and murders and how they did it.

This book is fiction, but some of the characters we meet are real Americans who were in Paris for the Exposition of 1900. I do have a soft spot for books that blur fact with fiction and this one ticked lots of boxes. Paris is in party mode and the excitement of the exposition and socialising is described in detail, along with the customs, fashion and jewellery of the time. It is a well-researched book set in a fabulous era with a gripping mystery and I loved trying to piece together the facts to work out who was guilty.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frances McNamara

Frances McNamara grew up in Boston, where her father served as Police Commissioner for ten years. She has degrees from Mount Holyoke and Simmons Colleges, and recently retired from the University of Chicago. She now divides her time between Boston and Cape Cod. She is the author of five other titles in the Emily Cabot Mysteries series, which is set in the 1890s and takes place primarily in Chicago: Death at the Fair, Death at Hull House, Death at Pullman, Death at Woods Hole, and Death at Chinatown. Visit her website Follow her on Facebook Sign up to receive her newsletter Follow Allium Press of Chicago on Twitter | on Facebook Buy the book: on Amazon

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Book review of Bonjour Kale by Kristen Beddard

Bonjour Kale by Kristen Beddard

My review today is for Bonjour Kale by Kristen Beddard, a memoir about a new life in Paris, with a difference.

Kristen meets her husband Philip in New York, but he was actually born in Geneva, raised in England, had a German passport and spoke fluent French. His work lands them in Paris, which she loves, but she also feels there are some things missing in her new life. The first is kale; the curly cabbage-like vegetable that can be eaten raw, cooked or juiced, was a staple from her childhood and is noticeably missing from markets, supermarkets and restaurants in Paris.

The other thing missing is her sense of purpose. Her French is limited, she isn’t working and she misses her family and friends. This is when she decides she needs a project and that is to single-handedly bring kale to Paris.

If there is one thing the French know, it is their food and I’ve yet to meet a French person who doesn’t have an opinion on how to prepare, cook or eat whatever food is being discussed (and in France food is always being discussed). To find farmers willing to grow kale, market vendors willing to sell it and restaurants brave enough to use it, was an enormous task when most of them had never heard of it. With determination and an ever-growing network of kale lovers on her side, it is a challenge she embraces and refuses to give up on.

Maybe I have lived in France too long, or just that I prefer courgettes (zucchini) to brasicas, but I have to admit to never having eaten kale, however Kristen’s passion is so strong, her story so inspirational and the recipes she includes sound so delicious I’m off to see if kale has reached rural France.

This memoir ticked lots of boxes for me; the funny settling in stories and mishaps of arriving in Paris, the food and market side to living in Paris and a story that is just a little bit different to other similar memoirs. I highly recommend it.

Bonjour Kale is published by Sourcebooks and available from Amazon in paperback.

Book review of Time and Regret by MK Tod

Time and Regret
by MK Tod

Time and Regret by MK Tod

(historical mystery) Release date: August 16, 2016 on Amazon ISBN: 978-1503938403 366 pages Author's page | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

When Grace Hansen finds a box belonging to her beloved grandfather, she has no idea it holds the key to his past and to long-buried family secrets. In the box are his World War I diaries and a cryptic note addressed to her. Determined to solve her grandfather's puzzle, Grace follows his diary entries across towns and battle sites in northern France, where she becomes increasingly drawn to a charming French man and suddenly aware that someone is following her. Through her grandfather's vivid writing and Grace's own travels, a picture emerges of a man very unlike the one who raised her: one who watched countless friends and loved ones die horrifically in battle; one who lived a life of regret. But her grandfather wasn't the only one harboring secrets, and the more Grace learns about her family, the less she thinks she can trust them.

MY REVIEW

Grace and her Grandfather shared a close relationship, close enough for him to set her a puzzle and know that one day she would work out his secret and help to put right what he couldn’t. With his war diaries and cryptic clues Grace heads to France, alone, hoping following in his footsteps will make solving the mystery easier. Visiting the memorials, cemeteries and museums that are in abundance in northern France, Grace meets Pierre, a welcome friendly face, as she soon realises she is being followed. Just what is in her Grandfather’s diaries to cause such interest?

This book is partly set in the 1990’s following Grace as she tries to work out the clues she knows her Grandfather has left for her, part narrative of his time spent fighting in the First World War and part extracts of his harrowing war diaries, all cleverly woven together. We get a firsthand account of everything life in the trenches threw at the soldiers including the discomfort and dirt, death and depression, friendship and camaraderie. Young Martin Devlin is often angry and very different to the loving Grandfather Grace remembers. There are plenty of twists and turns and every time Grace gets closer to solving a clue, something or someone crops up and the mystery deepens, leaving me wondering who can she trust. The further into the book I got, the more difficult it was to put it down.

This is the third historic novel I have enjoyed from MK Tod, but the added sense of mystery in this novel has made it my favourite.

Read my review of Unravelled here.

Read my review of Lies Told in Silence here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Time and Regret is M.K. Tod's third novel. She began writing in 2005 while living as an expat in Hong Kong. What started as an interest in her grandparents' lives turned into a full-time occupation writing historical fiction. Her novel Unravelled was awarded Indie Editor's Choice by the Historical Novel Society. In addition to writing historical novels, she blogs about reading and writing historical fiction at http://www.awriterofhistory.com, reviews books for the Historical Novel Society and the Washington Independent Review of Books, and has conducted three highly respected reader surveys. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and is the mother of two adult children. Please visit her website and her blog A Writer of History Subscribe to her mailing list or contact her at mktod [at] bell [dot] net Follow her on Facebook and Twitter on Goodreads and Pinterest Buy the book (print, ebook audiobook): Amazon

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Cycling in the Vienne part one

Montmorillon

Living with a teenager it is all too easy to slip into a routine during the school holidays; he gets up at midday, breakfast rolls into lunch, an afternoon bike ride with us is frowned upon as he’d rather watch YouTube, so more often than not the only time spent together was dinner. The opportunity to review Longère Louise from a cyclists perspective gave us a very welcome couple of nights away, as a family, just before packing Ed’s suitcase and taking him back to school.

 

Montmorillon from the old bridge

Situated to the east of Poitiers in the Vienne department, we found ourselves in an area we had yet to discover, despite being only a two hour drive from home. On our way there we parked in the village of Lathus, had our picnic lunch and set off on the bikes for a 40km circuit to Montmorillon. I’d always wanted to visit this town, feeling a kind of spiritual connection to a place that not only calls itself the city of writing, is full of little bookshops, but has it’s own speciality almond macaron too. The end of the school holidays might have been close, but I wasn’t giving up on summer yet.

Bookshop window, Montmorillon

The cycling was along pretty back roads with a few hills but nothing too challenging, following the Gartempe river valley, which disappointingly was often hidden from view. Montmorillon with it’s old stone bridge (parts of it dating back to 14^th Century) separating the old town on the hill with the new town was just as pretty as I had hoped. We took lots of photos on the bridge before wandering slowly around the old town, whose streets were too narrow and steep for cycling. Unfortunately for us it was a Monday and there wasn’t a lot open, but we did get to peer in the windows at the pretty displays of the bookshops that were closed. I had also read that the church was worth a visit and was pleased to see the door was open. I propped my bike up by a tree and was just about to trot inside (with my clomping hoof-like cycle shoes) when something about the sombre mood of a small group of people gathered in the shade of a tree made me think ‘funeral’. Almost immediately the hearse arrived and I was glad I hadn’t been stuck inside dressed in purple lycra. It was time to make a hasty retreat and go searching for macarons.

With the disappointment of the bookshops being closed and the church being otherwise occupied, my hopes were pinned on the macarons; a delicious sounding treat made with egg whites, sugar and ground almonds, with a moist centre that is top secret. However, every boulangerie and patisserie we saw was closed and we couldn’t find anything on the town centre map to point us in the right direction of the family business that has been making them for generations. Disappointed again, we cycled out of town.

 

Longère Louise, bedroom

As soon as we arrived at Longère Louise our spirits were lifted. It was beautiful, looked tiny from the outside, but with space for the bikes in an inner hallway, a lovely family-sized table in the heart of the kitchen, two good-sized double bedrooms and an upstairs lounge Ed soon occupied, it wasn’t short of anything, except headroom – poor Adrian was just too tall for some of the doorways and low beams, but nothing that wearing a cycle helmet couldn’t fix.

 

Duck!

I found everything I needed in the kitchen to cook our evening meals and pasta salad lunches, in fact I think it was better equipped than my kitchen at home and most of our meals were eaten out in the secluded courtyard. The cottage is in a quiet hamlet, but only three kilometres (an easy cycle ride) from the village of Liglet where we found Le Sapin Vert, a bar/restaurant under new and friendly ownership and the boulangerie/general store.

 

Longère Louise, kitchen

Day two was our big bike adventure, crossing the border into the Indre and discovering the Brenne national park. This area of over 3000 manmade lakes was once a forest, but with the wood used for iron extraction the first lakes were made in the Middle Ages for carp rearing, which continues today. Most of the lakes are privately owned fish farms, 60% of the fish raised are carp and are mostly exported.

 

Brenne national park

Our 70km route followed a voie verte cycle way along an old railway line from the town of Le Blanc, before picking up a marked circuit that takes you around the lakes. The railway line was quiet, tree lined and shady, and the dry summer meant the first of the leaves had already started to fall, crunching under our wheels along with the popping of crushing acorns. Once out into the flat, open national park we cycled past straw coloured fields where the grass was as dry as hay and the pale coloured cows stood together in the shade of the trees. The air was warm and pine scented, with plenty of shade from oak and pine trees and I could smell the cool freshness of a lake as we approached. The lakes are home to water lilies, herons, egrets, swans, coots, turtles and that was just what we saw. What there wasn’t much of though was picnic tables or benches, probably because most of the lakes are privately owned. We also seemed to pick one of those days where every village bar and boulangerie we passed was closed. Thankfully we found somewhere with a bench to share, and tucked into our picnic pasta pots. It was a lovely, family day out, even if I was left trailing at the back most of the way.

We might only have been away from home for two nights, but it felt like a proper holiday and I am happy to recommend Longère Louise to anyone looking for a Vienne holiday. Click here to read my full review for FreewheelingFrance with booking information.

Longère Louise is priced from £350 per week.

September arrives once again

Back to school photo 2016

Farewell to another summer, the longest summer we have had in France. Ed finished lycée on 8^th June, twelve whole weeks ago, which was fantastic, but I only hope he will remember how to study. His suitcase has lain half packed on his bedroom floor for a few days and we will soon be back into the routine of dropping him off early on a Monday morning, collecting him on a Friday afternoon and washing his clothes and bedding all weekend.

This August has been the hottest, sunniest and driest we have experienced in twelve years of living here and it was with some trepidation we opened the shutters this morning. Adrian has a theory that the weather on the first day of a new month has an affect on the rest of the month. We were really hoping for blue sky rather than rain clouds, allowing us to carry on with our summer cycling routine, rather than accept Autumn is here.

 

Charentais melons at market

It was perfect. Warm, no wind and although sunny, not too hot either. Leaving Ed to enjoy his last weekday lie in, we set off to market, by bike. It is at this time of year that the Charentais melons are at their best and luckily Adrian is happy to carry four in his bike pannier. Even an extra one, popped in as a cadeaux by the stallholder wasn't a problem. 

Coffee at the Auberge du Cheval Blanc, Brioux-sur-Boutonne

Next stop was the boulangerie stall for two croissants, then on to the Auberge duCheval Blanc for a coffee and catch up with the friendly owner. Market day is a great day to people watch; the older lady with her old bike, complete with wicker shopping basket tied to the back, the stall holders planning a beer together after market, the never ending queue of patient shoppers at the fish stall and the cyclist with two baguettes poking out of his backpack. I can only hope the weather stays good enough for us to continue cycling to market every week.

Much as I dislike la rentrée (back to school/work), I do think September makes a better new year than January. I'm ready to turn over a new page and set some goals in much the same way Ed is ready to return to school. Life as a weekly boarder at the intern is what he says he has missed most this summer, but it's my home cooking that he says he’s going to miss now he's back at school.

Having dropped Ed off, Adrian and I will enjoy a quiet meal for two this evening, with a Charentais melon starter and glass or two of wine, to toast what has been and will continue to be another great summer.

This post has been linked to #AllAboutFrance at Lou Messugo blog. 

Book review of Return to the Little French Guesthouse by Helen Pollard

Return to the Little French Guesthouse
By Helen Pollard

My review today is for The Return to the Little French Guesthouse, the second in the La Cour des Roses series by Helen Pollard.

This book continues on immediately from book one and with only minimal memory jogging, so I’d definitely recommend starting from the beginning of the series and not reading this as a stand-alone. You can read my review of book one here.

Emmy returns to France to start a new life as Rupert’s manager at La Cour des Roses and hopefully a new relationship with a sexy Frenchman too. Despite realising it will take time to settle in, she soon finds her new life throwing up some rather unexpected issues with guests, bookings and relationships, that test her resolve and make her wonder whether she has made the right decision. Her new life is certainly more about the hard work of running a guesthouse in France than relaxing in the French sunshine. Then again, she also finds fun, friendship, lots of laughter and good coffee too, which prove to be the perfect combination of things to soothe the rollercoaster of emotions she is going through.

Helen writes in a relaxed, easy reading style that made me feel very at home at the guesthouse and her characters are strong and real. I enjoyed feeling like I was in France and learning more about some of the other characters we were introduced to in the first book. It was great to be back and I was again sad at having to leave Emmy and her friends when I finished the book. Helen has left us poised for more and I hope we do get another book in this series.

This book has everything you need to take a late summer break in the Loire. There will be markets and festivals, laughter and tears, sunshine and music and I’m sure that you will have a great time.

The La Cour des Roses series is published by Bookoutre and available on Amazon in paperback and ebook format.

You can read my France et Moi interview with Helen here.

Tour du Poitou Charentes #TPC2016

King of the Mountain in Boutiers-St-Trojan

Today was the first day of the 2016 Tour du Poitou-Charentes, a four-day, five stage professional cycling tour that just happens to be (almost) on our doorstep.

The #TPC2016 cow car

We had planned a morning drive to Angouleme, the town hosting the depart, and were looking forward to a coffee before watching the action; the team coaches arriving, the crowds gathering, the cyclists alighting, chatting and signing autographs before cycling off to the team presentations. We have done it before and it is great fun. However, while Angouleme is lovely, the ‘Grand Depart’ was being held out of town, tucked away by a lycée, a college and a supermarket and nowhere near the Angouleme we know and love. Parking looked to be impossible, coffee probably non-existent and stress levels were rising.

Over a coffee at home we decided our best bet would be to catch some action along the route towards La Rochelle, as the race passed through the Cognac vineyards, somewhere we love cycling in summer. We picked the top of the second hill climb of the stage, by the church in Boutiers-St-Trojan. A half-hour drive from home, followed by an 18km cycle ride and we were in place at the top of the ‘mountain’. To make it more authentic we had cycled up too and although it is quite short it’s certainly sharp (300m at 8%) and in 38 degrees it took some effort. Thankfully we had time to refuel on a spicy vegetable and chickpea pasta salad before cheering on the riders.

The breakaway at the top of the hill climb

The great thing about catching them climbing is that they are slightly slower (although no one looked as red in the face as I was) so it’s easier to spot team colours and even individual riders. It was worth the effort and even in the heat our little 38km tour of the vineyards was a lovely ride.

Team Sky and the peloton

If you are in the area and want to see some live cycling this week you can find out more at the Tour duPoitou-Charentes website. Tomorrow they will leave from La Rochelle at about midday and make their way inland, through the lovely Marais Poitevin, to finish in Niort around about 16h30.

Cognac vineyards in summer

Book review of But you are in France, Madame by Catherine Berry

But you are in France, Madame
Catherine Berry

My review today is for But you are in France, Madame by Catherine Berry, a memoir about an Australian family who spent a few years living in the French Alps.

Right from the start this truly was a mega-move from one side of the world to the other, with three children and very little luggage. Add in the extreme change in weather, from Australian summertime to Alpine winter weather, school life, social life and sports activities for the children, which in turn led to adult inauguration with all things bureaucratic and Catherine certainly had a story to tell.

Theirs was never meant to be a forever move, but the original time they gave themselves kept growing as they became more settled and the children loved their new routine and activities, despite living in France being Mum’s dream to begin with. Rather than buying, they rented places to stay, often term-time lets, but that meant they regularly had to move out during the holidays. Instead of this being a hassle, it gave them the perfect excuse to travel around France and beyond as a family.

As always, life in France wasn’t all ski-ing lessons, coffee shops, markets and family road trips, they also had to battle medical issues, culture frustrations, coordinating visitors and a very long distance commuting dad/husband. However, I was quite jealous of the flexibility their lifestyle gave them and loved the way they embraced the good and the bad and got the most out of their French adventure. Catherine’s love of France and spending time with her family comes across very clearly.

This well written memoir certainly portrayed everything I would expect from a move to France and for anyone thinking of doing something similar it is an interesting and detailed account of everything they experienced while here.

But you are in France, Madame is available in ebook format from Amazon.

Moving in to our new home in France

The furniture arrives

Here is the final part of our moving to France story. If you have missed any previous posts you can find part one here, part two here and part three here.

Ed gets a ride in the removal lorry

The next few days were a blur of arrivals and departures, and that included the sunshine. The removal men arrived on 10^th August, unloaded and left, but with our familiar things around us we were able to make up our beds, reunite Ed with his toys and start to make our new house a home. Ed’s little green and yellow bike that he hadn’t seen for a month was the first item to come off the lorry. This simple and unexpected gesture made such a difference to him and showed us the removal men were not only experienced movers, but good parents too.

The first night brought with it the realization that we were not alone. We might have moved into a small village but there was life and lots of it; the screech of the barn owl was both wonderful and terrifying and the mustard yellow carpet in Ed’s new bedroom (the only carpet in the house) was alive with fleas that were delighted to feast on fresh young blood.

We soon realised that shutters were the most wonderful things that enabled anyone (even a three year old) to sleep through dawn and wake up refreshed from a good night. The morning church bells at somewhere close to (but never exactly) eight o’clock were the perfect reminder that if we didn’t get up soon the boulangerie would have run out of croissants, and I still love the fact that we can sit in bed with the windows wide open, listening to the birds, with the smell of freshly baked bread drifting in on the breeze.

The cats arrive 

We welcomed our first guests that week, Adrian’s parents, who had bravely made the noisy drive down with our two cats, Poppy and Willow. Their arrival meant we now had plenty of manpower to rip up the carpet and discover the local déchetterie.

Heading to the park in the sunshine

The weather and our moods often swung from stormy to sunny during that first week that ended with Adrian making the first of many trips back to the UK for work. I soon found myself alone with a three year old in a house whose creaks and grumbles were still unfamiliar, but I have fond memories of walks to the village park on sunny afternoons and big messy painting sessions held indoors as the rain and thunder played outside.

Things might not have gone quite to plan to begin with, but we were in France and had survived our first week and we learned that sometimes the best thing to do is to carry on without a plan. Things were new and unexpected then and everyday was an adventure and experience. We have since slipped into a routine, which is comforting, if not fresh and exciting but we both still pinch ourselves with the realisation that we took the huge leap to live our dream. We have a large house in France, with land and a privileged lifestyle that gives us plenty of family time together and we are very happy.

However changes are afoot once more. The Brexit vote has shaken the foundations of our life in France to the core and I can’t help but worry. I get that the EU wasn’t working for everyone. I get that it is a bold and exciting step to take, to put all that is wrong with the past behind you and step into a new future and the possibilities that holds. I was that brave person who set off to a new and unknown future. I embraced all the EU had to offer with my heart. Now my heart is broken.

We are EU migrants, given the chance to widen our horizons and experience life somewhere other than where we were born. We made the leap into the unknown because we had the right to do so. No one knows what the future will hold for migrants like us, from the UK who are now living in other EU states or those who have made the UK home. No one knows and so no one can reassure my worries or fears. The future in no-man’s land looks bleak, all we know is that our lives and rights will form part of the Brexit negotiations, which doesn’t do much to inspire a promising future.

I can only hope that we will have many more years here, being active members of our village and sharing our life in France on the blog.

Brexit Update August 2018

I wish I could say that my initial fears were unfounded. They were not. 

I wish I could say that the UK has worked hard to achieve a deal that offers a better future for all; including EU citizens who have made the UK their home and UK citizens who have made their home in other EU countries. They have not. 

We are all still in the limbo we were thrust into in June 2016. We still feel as though no one cares. The UK government don’t seem to care about us, only the ‘will of the people’, meaning we are not considered ‘people’ worth listening to. 

The leave voters don’t seem to care that lives are being ruined, both financially and emotionally with the uncertainty of what will happen. We are considered poor losers who do nothing but moan. 

No one could give me answers two years ago, no one can give me answers today, maybe if they could I wouldn’t feel so afraid. The French authorities are trying, but they are almost as unsure as we are as to what we/they should be doing. We have now secured an appointment for residency cards, but in our area, they are unable to cope with the sudden increase in demand (current regulations do not require UK citizens to apply for residency cards) and so the delay for our appointment is over six months. 

Our income is directly related to the £/€ exchange rate, which dropped in June 2016 and has continued to fall in the two years since the referendum. The financial impact of this has meant a loss of income of 22% in the last two years. We are used to living with the uncertainty and fluctuations of currencies, but what is more alarming is that the UK seems to be hurtling towards a no deal exit from the EU, putting Adrian’s ability to work cross borders in jeopardy. Currently services supplied by one VAT registered company to another in an EU member state are not subject to VAT. With no deal, there is the very real possibility that we will be required to charge our UK clients 20% TVA, immediately pricing us out of the market, or having to take this charge ourselves, which will reduce our income even further. 

We are considering our options carefully. We are within our rights to apply for dual nationality, but our income among other things will be scrutinised for this. It is rather ironic that Brexit is forcing us to think about this at the same time it is reducing our income drastically. I fear we are likely to be looked upon as financial burdens to the state and refused. This is not just the French being picky. We have a German friend who has lived and worked in the UK for many more years than we have been in France and is married to British man. The difficulties the British authorities are already imposing on her and her right to remain, make the French system look like a piece of cake.

Another option is for Adrian to return to UK for a full-time position with a UK company. This again poses as many problems as solutions. We have no home in the UK to move back to. Do I go with Adrian or do I stay with Ed, who is about to begin his university life in France this September? Whichever we chose Brexit is dividing our family and is a real risk to our futures.

Thank you for reading, liking, commenting and sharing these posts on social media. It has been great fun reliving those early days and sharing our adventure with you. Knowing you have been enjoying it too makes me very happy.