Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Labyrinth
(KateMosse)isanintriguingtale,muchofwhichtakesplaceinmedievalsouth-
ern France during the Cathar crusade.
War buffs may want to read these classics before visiting the D-Day Beaches:
The
Longest Day
(Cornelius Ryan) and
Wine & War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for
France's Greatest Treasure
(Donald and Petie Kladstrup).
Is Paris Burning?,
set in the
lastdaysoftheNazioccupation,tellsthestoryoftheFrenchresistanceandhowaGerman
general disobeyed Hitler's order to destroy Paris (Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre).
If you'll be enjoying an extended stay in France, consider
Living Abroad in France
(TerryLink)or
AlmostFrench
(SarahTurnbull),afunnytakeonlivingasaParisiannative.
Many appreciate the
Marling Menu-Master for France
(William E. Marling) but the most
complete (and priciest) menu reader around is
A to Z of French Food, a French to English
Dictionary of Culinary Terms
(G. de Temmerman). Travelers seeking green and vegetari-
an options in France could consider
Traveling Naturally in France
(Dorian Yates).
Fiction
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” begins Charles Dickens' gripping tale
oftheFrenchRevolution,
ATaleofTwoCities.
In
LesMisérables
(VictorHugo),aFrench-
man tries toescape hiscriminal past, fleeing fromadetermined police captain andbecom-
ingwrapped upinthe Revolutionary battles between the rich andthe starving. Another re-
commended book set during this time is
City of Darkness, City of Light,
by Marge Piercy.
Ernest Hemingway was a fan of Georges Simenon, a Belgian who wrote mysteries
based in Paris, including
The Hotel Majestic
. Other mysteries using Paris as the backdrop
are
Murder in Montparnasse
(Howard Engel),
Murder in the Marais
(Cara Black), and
Sandman
(J. Robert Janes).
A Very Long Engagement
(Sebastien Japrisot) is a love story set during the bleak
years when World War I raged. Using a similar timeframe,
Birdsong
(Sebastian Faulks)
follows a 20-year-old Englishman into France, and into the romance that follows.
Chocolat
(Joanne Harris)—a book and a 2000 movie with Johnny Depp and Juliette
Binoche—charms readers with its story of magic and romance.
Suite Française
(Irène Némirovsky) plunges readers into the chaos of the evacuation
of Paris during World War II, as well as daily life in a small rural town during the ensuing
German occupation. The author, a Russian Jew living in France, wrote her account within
weeks of the actual events, and died at Auschwitz in 1942.
