Archives by Tag 'France'

Review: ‘Perfume from Provence’ by Lady Winifred Fortescue

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Thursday, June 2, 2011

You might remember my mentioning by Lady Winifred Fortescue back in my March Review when I confessed to having broken my Lent book buying ban due to an unexpected train delay.  Whilst I felt a little bit guilty at the time (not least because I also picked up the two companion books by the same [...]

Review: ‘The Lollipop Shoes’ by Joanne Harris

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Title: Author: Joanne Harris Published: Black Swan, 2008, pp. 572.  Originally published 2007. Genre: Fiction Blurb: Seeking refuge and anonymity in the cobbled streets of Montmartre, Yanne and her daughters, Rosette and Annie, live peacefully, if not happily, above their little chocolate shop.  Nothing unusual marks them out; no red sachets hang by the door.  [...]

Review: ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’ by Brian Selznick

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Sunday, October 17, 2010

Title: The Invention of Hugo Cabret Author: Brian Selznick Published: Scholastic, 2007, pp. 533 Genre: Young adult historical fiction Blurb: Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity.  But when his world suddenly interlocks — like the gears of [...]

Review: ‘The Swan Thieves’ by Elizabeth Kostova

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life–solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and [...]

Review: ‘Farewell, My Queen’ by Chantal Thomas

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

On 14 July 1789, Queen Marie Antoinette and her court spend a pleasant evening in the Great Hall of Versailles, completely unaware that the events of the next few hours will change their lives and their country for ever. Agathe-Sidonie Laborde is the Queen’s reader, and twenty-one years later, an exile in Vienna, she remains [...]