Discovering books set in France...
Take me straight to the
books!
The first introduction to continental Europe for
many, France is the setting for novels and movies galore. There are very few of us who don't at
least have an idea of what France is about before going there for the first time. We have seen
photographs of the Eiffel Tower, imagined ourselves sitting at the distinctive Paris cafe
furniture, and looked forward to gazing at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. And in the books set
in France we have selected for you below, you will find all of this - and much
more.
While Paris is of course well represented, there is
another whole genre of books set in the French countryside - the works of Joanne Harris bringing food and French culture together, and others like
Julia Stuart highlight some of the wonderful idiosyncrasies of village life in books such as
The Matchmaker of Perigord.
Literature and art are well-represented in novels set
in France, some even fictionalizing the stories of well-known names who lived in Paris -
Gertrude Stein in The Book of Salt and Auguste Renoir in Luncheon of the Boating Party are among those we have found.
And what would a collection of books set in
France be if we didn't have some crime and spy novels? Fred Vargas's Commissaire Adamsberg series and Alan Furst's The Foreign Correspondent are a good place to start.
So, let's take ourselves on a journey to La Belle
France and choose some delicious novels from the collection below....toute de suite!
If you prefer to
read a bit of discussion before choosing, visit our books set in France category on the blog.
And if you are visiting us from Europe, you may be
best making your way to our UK
site.
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