Photo by Teddy Verneuil
Summer was ushered in by a canicule (heatwave) this year. Parisians, eager to beat the heat, left the city in droves for sparkling blue coastlines, both north to Normandy, and south, along the French Riviera.
As the summer months are lush with soaring UV indexes, we’re all preparing for the next seaside escape.
When leaving the cities for more favorable climates, the average weekend bag for the French will have an essential combination of suncare and skincare, a favorite swimsuit, and a pile of books to forget about the busy demands of the work week.
The French enjoy, frankly, the art of being bored. They lean in to learning something new in a pleasurable way — turning to their stack of books or E-reader to fall into a world of history, gastronomy, and culture. This is the art of the French beach read. Whether along a coastline or ailleurs (elsewhere), consider reaching for these books to enjoy an escape à la française all summer long.
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The Chateau Murder
By Greg Mosse
Building on the success of The French Bookshop Murder, we follow Mosse’s heroine Zoe to a crumbling castle, the Chateau Palotte, where a butler is found dead. With everyone a suspect, Zoe must untangle secrets, hidden motives and long-buried grudges before the murderer strikes again.
The Secret History of French Cooking: Outlaw Chefs Who Made Food Modern
By Luke Barr
Luke Barr, the bestselling food writer and culinary historian, takes us into the kitchens of 1960s and 1970s France, where giants like Paul Bocuse and Michel Guérard threw out the rulebook and reinvented cooking forever. This is a rich, flavorful read that reveals the origins of the way we eat today.
Letter from Provence: Two women, two centuries, and a village house in Franceirations
By Sheryle Bagwell
In this enchanting memoir, Australian journalist Sheryle Bagwell discovers letters in her Provençal attic written by Madame de Sévigné, an icon of 17th century French literature, to her daughter. As Sheryle navigates her new life in France, the correspondence prompts her to reflect on her own mother’s unfulfilled dreams.
My Life in France
By Julia Child
A fastidious recount of Julia Child’s years in France, this story reveals the exciting discovery of Child’s passion for French cooking. She shares her blunders and successes with the Cordon Bleu cooking school, the ups & downs of publishing her first book, and emparts how she brought the flavors of French cuisine to “servantless American cooks.” This is a story we return to again and again for a taste of old world France.
The Paris Match
By Kate Clayborn
In this contemporary romance novel, Layla Bailey, a recently divorced physician, attends her former sister-in-law’s Parisian wedding — only to accidentally give the bride cold feet. Now she must work with Griffin, the groom’s mysterious best man, to salvage the nuptials while confronting her own unhealed heartbreak.
The Girl in Blue: Renoir’s Portrait of a Dynasty Erased
By Doreen Carvajal
Part mystery, part Holocaust history, this haunting tale traces a stolen Renoir portrait through Nazi-occupied Europe while uncovering the remarkable life of Irène Cahen d’Anvers, the Jewish girl immortalized in the painting. Carvajal, author of The Forgetting River, brings her masterful storytelling prowess to this riveting exploration of beauty, betrayal, resilience and memory.
No matter the destination, good reading material is arguably the most sensible travel companion. Whether along sandy beaches or the Canal Saint Martin, we always revel in a book we can’t put down. If it transports us to a film set or encourages us to try a new recipe, it’s all the better.
Written by Jessy Brewer & The MFCH Team
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