In This Edition of
The BookBrowse Review
Contents
Highlighting indicates debut books
Discussions are open to all members to read and post. Click to view the books currently being discussed.
Literary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Short Stories
Essays
Poetry & Novels in Verse
Thrillers
Romance
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Graphic Novels
Biography/Memoir
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Science, Health and the Environment
True Crime
Travel & Adventure
Other
Mysteries
Thrillers
Romance
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Graphic Novels
History, Current Affairs and Religion
| Critics: |
From the National Book Award-longlisted author of Finding Florida, a sparkling, sweeping chronicle of the author's life and discoveries in an ancient town in "Deep France," from nearby prehistoric caves to medieval dynastic struggles to the colorful characters populating the area today.
When T. D. Allman purchased an 800-year-old house in the mountain village of Lauzerte in southwestern France, he aimed to find refuge from the world's tumults. Instead, he found that humanity's most telling melodramas, from the paleolithic to the post-modern, were graven in its stones and visible from its windows.
Indeed, the history of France can be viewed from the perspective of Lauzerte and its surrounding area—just as Allman, from one window, can see Lauzerte unfold before him in the Place des Cornières, where he watches performances of the opera Tosca and each Saturday buys produce from "Fred, the Foie Gras Guy;" while from the other side facing the Pyrenees he surveys the fated landscape that generated many events giving birth to the modern world. The dynastic struggles of Eleanor of Aquitaine, he finds, led to Lauzerte's remarkably progressive charter issued in 1241, which even then enshrined human rights in its 51 articles. From Eleanor's marriage to English king Henry II in 1154 dates the never-ending melodrama pitting English arrogance against French resistance; in 2016 Brexit demonstrated that this perpetual contretemps is another of the vaster conditions life in Lauzerte illuminates. Allman chronicles the many conflicts that have swirled in the region, from the Catholic Church's genocidal campaign to wipe out "heresy" there; to France's own 16th-century Wars of Religion, which saw hundreds massacred in the town square, some inside his house; to World War II, during which Lauzerte was part of Nazi-occupied Vichy.
In prose as crystalline as his view to the Pyrenees on a clear day, Allman animates Lauzerte and its surrounding communities—Cahors, Moissac, Montauban—all ever in thrall to the magnetic impulse of Paris. Witness to so many dramas over the centuries, his house comes alive as a historical protagonist in its own right, from its wine-cellar cave to the roof where he wages futile battle with pigeons, to the life lessons it conveys. "The onward march of history, my House keeps demonstrating, never takes a rest," he observes, pulling us vividly into his world.
"A mountain view of history in France. When journalist Allman bought an 800-year-old house in Lauzerte, a mountain village in southwestern France, he found himself steeped in the tumultuous history of the region, which he recounts with zesty enthusiasm in a combination of memoir, historical narrative, and travelogue...An engaging, richly detailed tale." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Sumptuous...The most penetrating aspect of Allman's narrative is his exploration of how his relationship with the town has altered his perception of what history is and how it moves, which often takes a wry turn, as when he explains that his 'paella man' exemplifies an ancient 'noblesse oblige.' This enthralls." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[Allman's] writing is often brilliant, warm, and clever. The stories of present-day Lauzerte are, by turns, gripping and amusing; the details of Allman's routines and the people of the village are touching and edifying. The historical portions emphasize brutal incidents and people...Best suited for fans of Allman's work, along with readers intrigued by a little-known French town, the author's 800-year-old house, and the book's contemporary elements. This will appeal to readers who enjoy Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police mystery series as well." —Library Journal
"Having purchased a house in the hills of central France, the late investigative journalist T. D. Allman employs his spirit of inquiry in laying out life in the hilltop town of Lauzerte...Allman brings history up to the present in this posthumous publication, discussing contemporary England's spurning of continental Europe. Allman's history is intriguing, compelling, and full of novel insights." —Booklist
T.D. Allman (1944-2024) is the author of Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State, Miami: City of the Future, Rogue State: America at War with the World, and Unmanifest Destiny. A famed war correspondent, he exposed the C.I.A. secret war in Laos and rescued massacre victims in Cambodia. He later was briefly kidnapped in Beirut and witnessed first-hand the events in Tiananmen Square. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Harper's, The New Republic, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Le Monde, and The Economist, among other publications. He divided his time between New York and France.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
