September reading recommendations: books about France in English

The Riviera House 

Natasha Lester
Sphere, €13.38
ISBN: 978-0751576481

This is a perfect read for anyone who likes books with a timeline split between the modern day and World War Two. It starts, as many great novels set in France do, with the heroine Remy inheriting a mysterious house on the Riviera. Off she goes then, to investigate – and finds a catalogue of artworks that were stolen by the Nazis during the war...

Meantime, back in 1939, employed at the Louvre, Eliane is secretly cataloguing the artworks being looted by the occupying forces and giving the lists to the Resistance. But she begins to wonder if she has trusted the wrong person. Danger threatens from every side, and her lover has already fled to the UK to escape the Nazis.

Remy, meanwhile, is still digging about in the Riviera house, nosing out family secrets and realising that she didn’t really know much about her parents after all. 

As the parallel stories move closer together and the reader realises the links, it is easy to spot a series of plot holes, but even easier to race on towards the emotionally satisfying ending.

Natasha Lester used to work for L’Oréal as a brand manager for Maybelline, but went back to university to study creative writing, after which she launched her successful career as an author. She is the author of The Paris Seamstress, The Paris Orphan, The Paris Secret, and The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard. Her book The Mademoiselle Alliance, about Resistance heroine Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, is also out now. She lives in Perth, Australia.

Pleasures of Provence 

Gayle Smith Padgett
Eagle Owl Press, €12.65
ISBN: 978-0999429549

Pleasures of Provence is an account of the author’s attempt to pin down exactly what it is about living in Provence that makes her and her husband Ralph so happy.

It began when the couple had a brief run-in with the law and suddenly realised how much they had to lose. 

After 15 years in Provence they had started to take certain things for granted.

The prospect of losing their life in France brought everything into sharp focus. What was it that was making them so happy?

As good luck would have it, answering this elusive question involved travelling on boats and bikes across the country, exploring various landscapes and, naturally, sampling the cuisine and talking to chance acquaintances as they went.

Reading along with them, it is easy to imagine that they really weren’t in any great hurry to find the answer. Certainly, you won’t be in any great hurry to finish the book. The writing is lively and engaging but, under the froth, the question is fundamental. In a world full of uncertainty and menace, what makes us happy and how can we hold onto it?

This is Smith Padgett’s third book, and she is starting to build a reputation for writing that entertains as well as portraying France as she finds it.

Real French 

Alex Dupont
Independent, €11.59
ISBN: 979-8316273829

This is for when your French is reaching a good standard but you still haven’t a clue what people are saying, because you learned it all from a book or a tape and you never went to school in France. (Which is where youngsters learn all their best slang and swear words.)

This slim volume will get you up to speed, but don’t buy it if you don’t like sweary chapters because the author pulls no punches. 

Read this and you will be equipped to offend almost any French person you like – if you ever got into an argument and wanted to offend or outrage them, of course.

Alex Dupont says he has always been fascinated by the way people express themselves in different languages and cultures, and his ambition is to visit as many countries in the world as possible. His language-learning books include guides for beginners as well as his collections of streetwise slang.

Real French includes a description of Verlan (the classic French backslang) as well as examples of conversations using other types of slang. Read this and you’ll start to capter (understand) and even kiffer (like) learning French.