August reading recommendations: books about France in English

La Buvette

Camille Fourmont and Kate Leahy

Ten Speed Press, €24.80

ISBN: 978-1984856692

La Buvette: Recipes and Wine Notes from Paris is a mouth-watering title just begging you to skive off and take a Eurostar to the City of Light – and the promise is fulfilled.

Reading this is like walking into La Buvette, a real-life wine bar and café in the 11th arrondissement run by author Camille Fourmont. The photos show you what it looks like and the text evokes conversations between regulars, the sheen of chilled white, the steam coming from the kitchen. She calls her place a ‘cave à manger’ – not a ‘cave à vins’ (a wine store) but a wine bar where you eat.

The book is filled with easy recipes which always turn out well; chicken in hay, lemon meringue, beans in olive oil and lemon. There is also much good advice about wine, how to choose it, how to pair it, and how to increase your confidence about what you are tasting.

It’s a very modern approach to eating. Like all city dwellers, Parisians are stressed and short of time. They want to spend their evenings relaxing, not sitting through an interminable formal dinner, and La Buvette caters to their needs.
This is where Parisians go to kick back, chat, taste different wines, share small plates, maybe order a large plate or dessert. And because the place is pretty much a one-woman show, everyone gets to know Camille. The place feels like home and has a very dedicated regular crowd.

Read this and you’ll want to join them.

The Little French Guesthouse

Helen Pollard

Bookouture, €10.97

ISBN: 978-1910751879

You can guess what this novel is about, just from the cover. It’s a nice clean romance set in France. One of many. But 11,600 reviews on Amazon can’t be wrong. This is top-notch, page-turning stuff.

Our brave heroine Emmy goes on holiday to France with her boyfriend Nathan, but no sooner have they checked into La Cour des Roses (the aforementioned guesthouse) than he scarpers with the proprietor’s wife. Rupert (the proprietor) is limp and shaken. So what does Emmy do? Yes, you guessed it. Broken-hearted but brave, she steps into the breach, changing sheets and taking bookings like a pro.

But just in case you think it’s an open-and-shut case of lurve at first sight, there is the hot gardener Ryan, not to mention Gorgeous Alain the accountant.

Emmy is also falling for the chickens but naturally, being a nice girl, she worries about throwing her UK life to the winds. Perhaps she ought to be sensible and
turn her back on Rupert, Ryan, Alain and the hens?

But look, this is only the first in a series of novels about life in the Little Guesthouse. She clearly doesn’t leave France, never to return! Read on and you’ll find yourself smiling and reaching for a café-croissant as you hope this glorious escapism never ends.

A French Word a Day 

Collins Kids and Julia Murray

Collins, €15.89

ISBN: 978-0008672270

This children’s book is bound to appeal to adults as well as children. Rather than just being a list of 365 French words, each is explained in full.

Many of them are also linked to dates in the calendar, making them easy to remember. Examples are ‘les feux d’artifice’ for July 14 (la fête nationale or Bastille Day in English); l’appareil photo for World Photography Day; and le fromager on National Cheese Day.

You might not have heard of half of these dates, but that’s the fun of it. The book also gives a pronunciation guide for each word and all the pages are delightfully illustrated.

The book is marked from seven years and up, but younger kids who already speak some French would enjoy it, and it could easily be read to preschoolers. Memorising all these words won’t teach anyone French, but it would probably make any reader take an interest in France, and the day one of the words pops into your head like magic, you’ll be glad you bought it.

This is the kind of book that gets passed down the generations, becoming
a family favourite.