Home Free: Voltaire’s Chateau at Ferney has Reopened its Doors
In these days of political correctness gone mad and outright intolerance, the reopening of Voltaire’s ‘bastion of free speech’ hasn’t come a moment too soon. Following a three-year €9m renovation, the philosopher and all-round...
Ernest Lavisse: A Little Book Makes a Big Comeback
It arrived in a bundle of second-hand books intended for a fund-raising sale - "it" being the Histoire de France: cours moyen by one Ernest Lavisse (18th edition, 1921). Worn round the edges, as might...
Nanny State: History of the Morvan’s Nourrices
Guy Hibbert delves into the Morvan’s little-known past as a breeding ground for nourrices...
If you were a well-heeled Parisian lady in the 18th or 19th century, the last thing you needed to spoil the...
Book Reviews: Small Country, A Novel by Gaël Faye
Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gaby life in his idyllic expatriate neighbourhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan-Tutsi mother and sister Ana, is something close to paradise. These are blissfully carefree days of laughter...
A Passion for Picnics and Entertaining: An Excerpt from “Everyday Monet”
The magic of Claude Monet's garden comes to life in a new book called Everyday Monet: A Giverny-Inspired Gardening and Lifestyle Guide to Living Your Best Impressionist Life. Within this visually stunning book, Monet expert...
La Rentrée des Classes, Back to School: French Language & Etiquette
The first day back at school is off to a bad start for best friends Manon and Clara as they find out they’re in separate classes... Dialogue by Françoise Giordano from FastTrackFrench.com.
MANON: Salut Clara. Est-ce...
Book Reviews: Effortless Style by Pierre Sauvage
“I am not an interior designer,” Pierre Sauvage sets the record straight. And yet, for all his protestations to the contrary, his bold aesthetic, colour palette, playful pairings and enviable eye for detail are...
Great Wine Destinations: Alsace, Triumph over Adversity
The region of France with the most tumultuous history is also that which produces some of its very best wines. Jeffrey T Iverson heads east
Most oenophiles agree that complexity is the sine qua non...
Book Reviews: Robert Doisneau, Published by Lannoo
A self-proclaimed ‘fisherman of images’, Robert Doisneau did far more than capture the everyday in his intimate street tableaux. A deft storyteller, he teased fantasy and surprising candour from his ‘models’, revealing the unbridled...
Blois, Of Visions and Visionaries: The Chateau Inspiration for Asheville’s Biltmore Estate
There are many châteaux in the Loire Valley, but only three interested a certain nineteenth-century railroad tycoon. Enthralled with French Renaissance châteaux, George Vanderbilt determined to build his own in the mountains of North...
