This week, February 2nd, is crepe day in France, la chandeleur in French, and Candlemas in English, when people feast on crêpes though no one is quite certain why. In any case, the ancient tradition, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin …
Why all the Chrysanthemums?
Today, November 1st is a public holiday in France — La Toussaint, or All Saints Day — when the Catholic church honours all the saints an martyrs of Christian history. Every All Saints Day, cemeteries all over France come alive (pun intended!) with people honouring their loved ones: weeding and tidying up graves, placing fresh …
Oradour-sur-Glane Tragedy
Twenty-two kilometres northwest of Limoges, in the heart of the Limousin countryside, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane minds its own business. The people run the shops, they farm the land and fish the lakes. After work they gather on the village square to share a drink, a game of cards or pétanque. Aproned housewives exchange gossip …
Finalist in Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Sometimes there is good book news … news that boosts a writer’s flailing confidence! Very happy to see my novel, Lake of Echoes is a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Read about all the FINALISTS HERE BUY a copy of Lake of Echoes, available in ebook and paperback from all the usual retailers. …
Chill with a Book
Readers’ Award & Cover of the Month
LATEST RELEASE
The Sainte-Marie-du-lac Series Book 1
France seethes in the wake of social unrest, eight-year-old Juliette is caught up in the turmoil of her parents’ fragmenting marriage.
Unable to bear another argument, she flees her home.
Black Plague Enlightened
The year is 1628. ‘Protect us from famine, war and plague, Seigneur,” cry the residents of Lyon, but their plea comes too late. The bubonic plague already crossed the Rhône River in August, terrifying the inhabitants and killing half of them. By 1643 they are desperate, and pray to the Virgin Mary to return good …
One Madame Nobody Wants to Meet!
Once dubbed the “National Razor” of France, Madame La Guillotine was the nickname Parisians gave to the device that beheaded their aristocratic French Revolution enemies, and which they held in great regard. In 1789, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed to the French government that decapitation by this lightning-quick machine would be more humane than the much-botched …