Falling for Provence by Paulita Kincer

I have followed  An Accidental Blog by Paulita Kincer for some time. Always impressive when people really change their lives. Paulita and her husband sold what they had in the US and moved to France to fulfill a long-time dream. It has been interesting to follow in their footsteps. Paulita has written a new book, Falling for Provence, which I got the opportunity to read for an impartial review. It is the second book about Fia Jennings but can be read without having read the first one. You get hints of earlier adventures throughout the novel. 

I had imagined a non-fiction book about her and her husband's life in France. I was as far off as I could be. This is a romantic and suspense fiction novel. As you enter the story you arrive at a wonderful B&B in Provence. Fia Jennings is helping her aunt and uncle to care for the business, at the same time caring for her teenage twins. When Ali, an attractive professor checks in to the B&B Fia cannot help hoping for a few days of romance. 

Things are not what they seem to be though. Ali has other plans. As the story unfolds amid the backdrops of everyday life, Fia has to deal with her family, the business, the attractive professor, and her friend Christoph who suddenly turns up for a long weekend. Christoph and Fia have a history. And, what is the professor really up to? Common family problems are interfering with Fia's plans as she and Christoph try to find out what Ali is up to.  

For the suspense part, Paulita Kincer does not shy away from touching on important and difficult questions. The main theme in the suspense part of the book is a sensitive subject: to whom do historical artefacts belong? To the country where they were found or to the country who took them back with them? It is a tricky question and there is no easy answer. The way this part of the book unfolds is intricately written and is taken to a perfect, surprising ending. 

I really enjoyed this book. Paulita Kincer is very well balancing a story that plays out on different levels. We get a good glimpse of life in France, its traditions, and its people, as well as a mystery to solve. The characters are well-drawn, as are the surroundings of Provence and Paris. A well-written account of a short time in the life of Fia Jennings, her sorrows, worries, and happy moments. Touching on international history and European travel it makes for interesting, exciting, and varied reading. 

More information below. 

Paulita Kincer

on tour July 20-31 with  

Falling For Provence

(women’s fiction, romantic suspense, family life) Release date: June 5, 2020 at Oblique Press 245 pages Author’s page Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

Running a French B&B isn’t all wine and smelly cheese, Fia Jennings discovers as she tries to create a new life for herself and a smooth path for her teenage twins, while not—absolutely not – falling into a new romance. But she didn’t anticipate a handsome stranger showing up on her doorstep and sucking her into an art caper with dangerous overtones. Can she make a new life in France or will she retreat to the States and her broken marriage?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Paulita Kincer has an M.A. in journalism from American University. She and her husband moved to southern France in 2018. She teaches college English online and ESL to adorable Chinese children. Visit her website www.paulitakincer.com and her blog at http://www.paulita-ponderings.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @paulitakincer Instagram, or Pinterest Like her Facebook page at Paulita Kincer Writer.

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Paris in July 2020 - Time is a Killer (Le temps est assassin) by Michel Bussi

Paris in July 2020 is hosted by Tamara at Thyme for Tea. Here we are sharing our love for everything Parisian and French. I am here with another review of a book from a favourite thriller writer, Michel Bussi. His stories are not like the average mystery/thriller. His characters are ordinary people, and it takes some time before you realise that there actually is a murder mystery. The murder(s) enter the story very discreetly, and as you go along you understand that all is not what it seems to be. 

"In the summer of 2016, Clotilde is spending her vacation in Corsica with her husband Franck and her teenage daughter Valentine. It is the first time she has been back to the island since the car accident in which her parents and her brother were killed decades earlier. She was in the car too, but miraculously escaped with her life.

This return plunges Clotilde back into the deepest recesses of her adolescence. She reacquaints herself with her paternal grandparents, Lisabetta and Cassanu, members of a powerful Corsican family that reigns over the island.

When a mysterious letter, signed “Palma”—Clotilde’s mother—arrives, the truth about her family, her parents’ death, and her childhood is called into question. Time is a Killer is a voyage into the complexities of Corsican society, a compelling portrait of woman’s awakening, and a masterfully executed novel of psychological suspense." (From the publisher Europa Edition)

While on holiday on Corsica with her parents in 1989, the teenage Clothilde writes a diary. In connection with the accident, it is lost. When returning in 2016 we realise that somebody has gotten hold of it. Bussi is using the diary to tell a parallel story, revealing the details, through the diary, of what was happening in 1989. It gives us the illusion that we know what was happening, until ghosts from the past start to turn up and change the story. Or is it just to make us a little bit crazy? Clothilde, as the center of attention, goes on a ghost hunt. She soon discovers that she cannot trust anyone.

The story is set in Corsica. Bussi is obviously familiar with the island, culture, and traditions, which creates an intricate background to the mystery. As usual, he manages to keep you spellbound and guessing until the very end. He does not provide simple stories or simple solutions. He weaves a web of deceit, murder, and mystery, which miraculously, he manages to clear up in the end. 

Michel Bussi is a professor of geopolitics and one of the most popular French authors today. He has written numerous novels. I have earlier read After the Crash and Black Water Lilies. They are both excellent. I enjoy thrillers and mysteries that have an interesting story. Bussi provides this in all his books. The stories are often very sad, and the murderers become killers by pure accident. As I said, intricate stories. 

Paris in July 2020 - This Poision Will Remain by Fred Vargas

Paris in July 2020 is hosted by Tamara at Thyme for Tea. Going into week 4 we enjoy sharing our love for everything Parisian and French. My contribution this week is about one of my favourite French police thriller writers.

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau. She is a historian, archaeologist and novelist. As the two first professions, she is best known for a book about the Black Death. Her main writing these days are those of the police thrillers; three books about The Three Evangelists, and the books about Chief Inspector Adamsberg. This is a book about the latter. 

Vargas combines her interests in history and archaeology and her stories, and crimes, are often based on academic themes. Often history, but in this book, she ventures into science. Namely, into the life and deeds of a spider; Loxosceles reclusa. When a number of older people are dying from a bite from this spider, Adamsberg and his team are getting suspicious.

Usually, the bite of the spider does not lead to death. As he and his team are looking into the deaths, a gruesome past is opening up. It leads to an orphanage where things were not what they were supposed to be. Children, both boys, and girls suffered great anguish. Are they, after all these years, coming back for revenge on the group of boys who were harassing them? And, if so, why wait all these years?

Adamsberg and his colleagues are facing tough questions, drawbacks, and terrifying evidence before they manage to find the culprit. In the usual style of Vargas the story develops slowly, but in a way which is quite realistic. It is all based on true detective work. Adamsberg is an unconventional Inspector;  he prefers to walk around the room while he is thinking of the case;  he disappears into his foggy thoughts from time to time and his IT knowledge is limited. His colleagues all show different skills and characters; maybe not always professional, but with their own kind of ambition. The diversity of the knowledge of his colleagues helps Adamsberg in his search for the truth.

Unfortunately, the English title is not very good. In French, it is called Quand sort la recluse, meaning when the recluse/hermit comes out, and in Swedish Den instängdas blick, meaning the gaze of the one who is closed in. A recluse is someone who closes him/herself in, like a hermit. The English title does not well reflect the original title or the theme of the book. Well worth reading nevertheless!

By Fred Vargas I have read The Chalk Circle Man and Have Mercy on Us All. If you want a good story, a different story, and a guess who-dun-it, Fred Vargas is the thriller writer for you. 

Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History

On Tuesday, I visited an old castle from the 16th century. It is called Glimmingehus and is the best-preserved Medieval building in the Nordic countries. Look out for a post about the visit on The Content Reader Goes Outdoor next week. Visiting places, I enjoy looking in the museum shops. Here they had a nice mix of books and this one caught my eye and imagination. 

It is about plants and their origins, their stories, and how they have played a central role for man in the development of modern society. The stories of the plants merge into economy, politics, and agriculture. Some of them are well-known, others not so much. Looking forward to seeing how these plants have shaped our society. 

Die Manns (The Mann Family) by Tilmann Lahme

One of my favourite books is Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. It was Thomas Mann's first novel and it was published in 1901. It gave him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. Tilmann Lahme's biography of the Mann family is an interesting account of a family where the author rose above everyone else.

Thomas Mann was born in 1875, but the biography starts in 1922 when he was already an established writer with part of his production behind him. It covers the years in Germany, the exile years during World War II (France, Switzerland, and the USA), the peace years, and the final years in Switzerland. 

The Manns was a troubled family. The mother Katia, took care of the family and the business that was Thomas Mann. They had six children; Klaus, Erika, Golo, Monika, Elisabeth och Michael. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reviewed the book and this extract says it all. "Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, says Tolstoy. One should read this book to  understand the meaning of it." (my transl.) How true. This is a peculiar family and one cannot help reflecting that it might depend on Thomas Mann himself. Protected by his own family by his wife, he demanded peace and quiet to write. He was put on a pedestal, treated almost godlike. The children's only wish is an acknowledgment from their father.  It never comes. Furthermore, he did keep favourites, and not very discreetly. Maybe that is a reason why, almost all of them, had problems in their adult lives. Some of them did, occasionally, make good careers, but it came at a cost. 

All of the children, except Golo, lived off their parents. None of them did well in school. They jumped from education to education, work to work, and had difficulties settling down on their own, finding their place in life. There is a strange interdependency between the family members. The could not live with each other, but neither without each other. In 1933, the first day in exile, Golo writes in his diary: "Now the family is all I have; it can never end well..." (my transl.)

Thomas Mann struggled with homosexual tendencies, which was mostly reflected through his novellas,  Death in Venice being the most known such work. Three of his children were also homosexual, Klaus, and Golo, and Erika was bisexual. Klaus and Erika went in their father's footsteps, writing books, articles, and manifestos. Especially, Klaus and Erika, political to the left, tended to oppose life in most of its forms.  They also tried acting, especially Erika, but she got tired of acting when she did not get the main role from the beginning. Michael, the youngest, was a talented violin player. He, however, never wanted to leave the safe world of lessons to go into performing. He finally did and had some kind of career. Monika never really made it off at all. One wonders if the idea that achievements come easy was due to their successful father. 

The most successful of the children were Golo and Elisabeth. The latter became an internationally recognised expert on maritime law and policy and the protection of the environment. She received numerous rewards from various countries for her work. Golo studied history (after trying out numerous different educations), wrote books, and became a successful and famous historian. He was the only one who went for a career and life without constantly asking the parents for money. 

Egocentric is the word that comes to mind when describing the Mann family.  It is the main character of the family members, except Katia. She was quite different from the rest of them but very loyal to the Mann family as a concept. Maybe because her role was to be the practical person taking care of everything. There is however a lack of structure in the education of the children. Although one may not say they were spoilt, there was leniency towards them, which might explain their not too happy adult lives. There is always the idea that if anything goes wrong it is somebody else's fault. If there is a lack of money, somebody should give them money. This includes Thomas Mann. Although wealthy there were times when money was lacking. The family could not understand why their rich friends could not just give them the money they needed. 

Their life in exile was a rather pleasant one compared to a lot of their fellow exiles. In 1939 Klaus Mann's novel The Volcano was published. He considered it his best novel and worked on it for two years. It received good reviews when it was published and his fellow emigration colleagues felt he had described their lives well. "Possibly it would have been in place with "a little more poverty and despair over money," "a little more misery, dirt and darkness" in a novel about emigration, says Stefan Zweig. Klaus Mann has not experienced any of this, and thus he has not described it."(my transl).

Lahme's biography is well researched and makes for interesting reading. There are a lot on Mann's views on the politics in Germany, the war years, and the following return to Europe after the exile, not mentioned here. It reads like an exciting book where you wonder what will happen next to the family.

The Mann family saw the world according to their eyes. When it did not live up to their expectations, they went on with a few white, and sometimes, not so white lies. This was most notable with Klaus and Erika. While reading the biography, one is more than amazed at how they lived their lives. Although sometimes a little bit shocked about their actions, their attitude towards each other, towards other people and towards the world, it is a fascinating account of a family out of the extraordinary. 

Paris in July - French movies

Paris in July, hosted by Tamara at Thyme for Tea. Everything French and Paris is interesting for this group of bloggers.

I wanted to watch a French film, but have not yet got through D'après une histories vraie (Based on a True Story). In the meantime, I wanted to recommend a couple of other French films that I love.

I really enjoyed  Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel), about the French fashion icon. This is her story before she got famous. It is beautifully filmed and shows a woman determined to make something of herself and her talent. Audrey Tautou makes an excellent performance as Coco. 

Another French icon is Colette. Keira Knightley plays Colette in the film with the same name. It is the story of how she became a successful writer, and the obstacles she faced on the way. For a long time, she had to publish her books under the name of her husband. 

Both films highlight strong women who had to fight hard to make it in a men's world. I found both films very interesting. 

One of my favourite French movies is The Intouchables. It is about an aristocrat, who after he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver. Superbly acted by François Cluzet and Omar Sy. Two different kinds of people, from different worlds, meet, clash, fight, and become friends. It is about how we all can take lessons from each other, how we can learn from people different from us, and how someone, locked into his own world, can come out on the other side. It is a charming film and a must-see. (Links to trailers under titles).

Paris in July - A Magical Room by Ingrid Svensson, part II

Paris in July, hosted by Tamara at Thyme for Tea. Head back to her page to see posts from participants in this annual challenge.

I continue from my last post about two other literary salon hostesses in 1920s Paris; Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia Beach.

Adrienne Monnier

had no connections to the literary world when she opened her book shop on 7, rue de l'Odéon in 1915.  Her mother encouraged her to read and her father provided financial support.  Reading was not her only interest, she also enjoyed theatre and music. Debussy became a favourite. 

The area where she opened her shop was not so exclusive then as it is today. It was, at the time, home to bohemian students who needed cheap housing. Her bookshop, La Maison des Amis des Livres,  was surrounded by shops, a theatre and cafés and people soon found their way there. From 1921 Sylvia Beach opened her shop on the other side of the street. "The researcher Laure Murat is speaking about rue de l'Odéon as the Atlantic, a transfer route that unites the French and the new world". 

The bookshop was a magic room, used as a meeting point, a book shop, a lending library, and a salon. Monnier herself described it as a "small, grey shop". It was simply decorated as far as furniture was concerned. The walls were filled with writers' portraits, writers she favoured. It resembled an exhibition in the end. 

Monnier was an outgoing person and made contacts easily. She developed her bookshop, arranging events and meetings with writers. Quite modern in her approach how to turn people's interest to her shop. She advertised, started a membership scheme to borrow books. Her idea was that to buy a book one either had to have read it or know about it. She promoted books and writers in a way so even people without money could enjoy her shop. Very soon her shop was a melting pot of literary and cultural gatherings.

In 1921 Sylvia Beach moved in with Monnier, and they became an established pair. They lived together and worked opposite each other. This lead to a direction into the English language and promotion of new writers both from Europe and the other side of the Atlantic. Although they were two independent women, it seems that they supported mainly male writers. Could, of course, be that there were not that many female writers at the time. There were a lot of women engaged in the work of the shops, but not as writers. 

Monnier also wrote herself, poetry, and articles, which received good reviews. She also ventured into publishing books and starting magazines. Apart from her work in her shop, she was very productive in other literary fields as well as fighting for female voting rights. There is a lot more information about this remarkable woman, but I stop here.

Sylvia Beach

"My loves were Adrienne Monnier and James Joyce and Shakespeare and Company" (my transl.)

Sylvia Beach might be the most famous, or remembered of the ladies who kept a salon. Mainly because her bookshop Shakespeare & Company is quite famous. Born in the US she arrived in Paris in 1916 together with her sister Cyprian who already lived in Paris. Cyprian was hoping for a carrier in films.

Sylvia had studied languages and spoke Italian and Spanish, apart from French. Her aim was to immerse herself in French literature. She started out as a volunteer (this is during the war) in agriculture and vineyards. After the war, she worked for the Red Cross in Serbia as a secretary and translator. 

At the end of 1919 she was back in Paris with Adrienne Monnier. Meeting Adrienne had a significant influence over her life. Together with Adrienne Sylvia developed into a powerful, goal-oriented, and independent woman.

She opened her bookshop on 17 November 1919, in a Paris changing after the war. A new era opened up. Art was changing and the new writers were arriving. Her bookshop was much more colourful than Monnier's. Carpets, art, antique furniture filled up the rooms, and there was even a kitchen. The new Englishspeaking literature was rather unknown in France, as was the modern American one. Sylvia Beach found her niche here. She wanted to introduce Anglo-Saxon literature in the original language, which was a genius initiative. After the war, Paris saw an influx of Americans who found their way to her cozy bookshop. Many writers left the US due to limitations in freedom of the press. 

Sylvia sold and lend books, and could not imagine selling books she did not like herself. She enjoyed when customers sat down in an armchair and read from the book before deciding whether to buy it or not. On her shelves, one could find Sherwood Anderson, Charlotte Brontë, Beowulf, Robert McAlmon, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingways, Samuel Richardson, and Dorothy Richardson. She mixed old with new. 

As Adrienne Monnier, she knew how to attract people by using promotion, signs, and display books and magazines in the windows. She promoted literary magazines, supporting new up-coming writers and poets. The important writers published extracts from there coming books in various magazines, like Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. 

In 1921 she moves her bookshop to 12, rue de l'Odéon, opposite Adrienne Monnier. At the same time, she moved in with Adrienne where she stayed until 1936. "Sylvia had alert eyes, a brown velvet jacket and was kind", writes Hemingway. She let him borrow books on credit when he did not have any money. It was here he found his way to the Russian authors. It opened a new world to him: "to read in a city like Paris, where you could live and work well, no matter how poor you were, was like receiving a great treasure." (my transl). Maybe that was part of Sylvia's talent that she could encourage and detect talent. The story of James Joyce and Ulysses is well known. 

The 1920s was the glorious period for Shakespeare & Company. During the 1930s depression Americans went back to the US. The number of Americans in Paris went down from 20 000 to 4 000 persons. André Gide started an aid campaign to help Sylvia Beach keep the bookshop. It worked for some time, but with the onset of the war, she had to close in 1941. In 1942 she was taken to a detention center in Vittel, where she spent six months with other American and British women who stayed on in France. 

Returning back to Paris, she did not want to open the bookshop again. She settled down at the top floor of the shop where she used to store books, and spent the 1940s working for the Red Cross and other charities. After the suicide of Adrienne Monnier her life turned darker.  She died in 1962 and the papers she left behind are kept at different universities in the US. The name of her bookshop is still alive. Now situated on 37, rue de la Bûcherie, it is a different bookshop where only the name connects it to Sylvia Beach. 

All in all, a very interesting book of which the three posts I have written contains just a fraction. Unfortunately, the book it is not translated. 

A Magical Room, Saloons in 1920s Paris by Ingrid Svensson

Better late than never as they say. This post was supposed to go up last year. At a museum in Sweden I found a book about 1920s saloons in Paris. Very interesting and it generated the post: Paris in July - French Saloons.  As promised then, here is the first of two posts about four of the main hostesses. 

Still picking from the "Magical Rom" and events from Paris in the 1920s. There were four main characters who put their mark on the literary scene of the time; Gertrude Stein, Natalie Clifford Barney, Adrienne Monnier, and Sylvia Beach. For most of you, they are already well known. These ladies had one thing in common, as well as many of the women holding salons, in that they were all lesbians. This was maybe one reason why they ended up in Paris, being more liberal (although you had to be discreet) than many other countries, and the US specifically. They were very creative and talented and did a lot for the cultural scene in Paris, introducing new talents and helping them to survive and make their breakthrough.

Gertrude Stein

"It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing."

She was a patron of the arts. She and her brother were collectors of art, buying from young, unknown artists from early on, such as Pablo Picasso, whom she met already in 1905. In 1907 she met Alice B. Toklas and the rest is history as they say. They enjoyed a life-long relationship and complimented each other in many ways. Saturdays, their home was open to a mixture of artists, writers, and ex-pats. The evenings usually started with dinner for a few chosen friends. Afterward, everyone who knocked on the door was welcomed. "The salon was not a place for snobs, here everyone socialised freely and simply, in a somewhat chaotic environment full of life and discussions." "The salon became a springboard for innovation."(my translation).

Natalie Clifford Barney

was American and daughter of the railway magnate Albert Clifford Barney and artist Alice Pike Barney. She came from a wealthy family and used her money to support poor artists. She published a few of her own books as well. Sapfo was an important poet for her identification.  She rented a house in Neuilly, with a garden, perfect for parties. Among her visitors were Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhardt, and authors Anna de Noilles, Colette, Marie de Régnier, Renée Vivien, and Lucie Delarue-Mardrus. From 1909 she rented a house in the court of rue Jacob 20, where she for many years held a lavish salon. The last one was held almost 60 years later in 1968. It was during the 1910s and 1920s that her salon had its peak. It could be up to 200 guests. Apart from the salon, she held a reception once a month for about 100-150 persons. Samuel Putnam was of the opinion that she was the only one who held a salon as they were held in the 18th century. Here you saw wit and elegance come together. Leaders in literature met with scientists and doctors. She was not interested in the formal merits, it was man who interested her: "I'm not a bibliophile but humanophile: it's the strange human specimens I seek."Her salon was lavishly decorated, full of colours and old furniture. One can imagine that the people who visited here, were transferred back to the original salons of times past.

The next post will cover Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia Beach.