November reading recommendations: books about France in English

Travels through the French Riviera

Virginia Johnson
Artisan, €31.59
ISBN: 978-1579657376

Travels Through the French Riviera: An Artist’s Guide to the Storied Coastline from Menton to Saint-Tropez does exactly what it says on the tin. Guidebook entries are accompanied by beautiful watercolours. The author strolls along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, buys sandals in Saint-Tropez, and follows in Picasso’s footsteps in Antibes. She describes meeting the swimming instructor who taught celebrities including Jean Cocteau, Brigitte Bardot and Paul McCartney to swim.

Virginia Johnson is an artist and textile designer from Toronto.

Her prints have been used on clothing, shawls and home accessories all around the world, and her aesthetic sense comes across very clearly in the book. Her words paint vivid pictures. Her watercolours and sketches are inspiring to anyone who has ever wanted to learn some artistic skills.

All the colours and almost the scents of this most glamorous stretch of coastline are here. Reading this is almost like visiting the area yourself, with a knowledgeable friend along to advise you which ice cream parlour to try, how to order the best coffee and plan a day on the beach at Menton. An ideal read when it’s raining outside and French sunshine seems worlds away.

This book will transport you back to the Riviera if you already love it, and prompt you to go there immediately if you have never been but have always had it on your list. It would make a great coffee-table book or even a wonderful gift.

French Dirt 

Richard Goodman
Algonquin Books, €13.99
ISBN: 978-1565123526

The title might lead you to think this is dishing the dirt, but actually, the author being a New Yorker, this is about gardening – except it’s not. French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France is a diary of an American’s year in a small village north of Orange. Having moved into their rented house, the author and his companion realised that they were seen as outsiders. Everyone knew they were only in residence for a year. So he decided to get closer to his new community by getting a job in the local vineyards, and then he moved on to farming what he calls his “own small plot of land”.

The plan worked, and the pair made lots of friends in their village. It is a very sweet read for anyone who loves France, but this account of a year in the Gard département is about the author’s experiences of gardening and growing vegetables. Richard Goodman has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times and Harvard Review, and various autobiographical books, including The Soul of Creative Writing, A New York Memoir, and The Bicycle Diaries: One New Yorker’s Journey Through 9-11. So, if you find yourself in a rural French café, wondering how to integrate, maybe this book has clues: buy a gardening fork.

Liberty, Equality, Fashion 

Anne Higonnet
W. W. Norton & Co., €36.86
ISBN: 978-0393867954

France being France, of course French women followed fashion during the Revolution. Why would they not? Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution looks at three Frenchwomen in particular who were leaders in matters of la mode: Joséphine Bonaparte, Thérésa Tallien (reputed to be the most beautiful woman in Europe) and Juliette Récamier, a muse to intellectuals of the day. All three broke various barriers when it came to clothing.

They could even be described as becoming the first fashion celebrities or even influencers. Nicknamed the ‘Three Graces’, they were amongst the first women in Europe to free themselves from old-fashioned corsets, heavy petticoats and enormous skirts. For a brief period, women were reaching for independence and liberty. It took another two centuries for them to grasp it, but these three friends were clear in their vision of the future.

This is all meticulously documented and referenced in the book, although it is written in a lively, accessible style that makes the solid history easy to understand. The book is also crammed with beautiful fashion plates and illustrations of the beautiful clothes they wore.