Overview

From the coast of Normandy to the Côte d’Azur, along the banks of the Seine to the Alps – the ultimate literary tour of France. Travelling in a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris, Peter Fiennes explores France’s sense of its own people, place and identity through some of its greatest writers and artists. Moving between the centuries, from the Arthurian forests and Neolithic fields of Brittany to the banlieues of Paris, Fiennes follows the threads of history across France. And wonders what is next for this sublime, mysterious and sometimes fractious country. Fiennes drinks with Sartre and de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre; follows Edith Wharton’s ‘Motor-Flight’ along the Loire Valley to the home of George Sand; and explores the beaches of the south with Colette and Katherine Mansfield. He lingers in Bordeaux with François Mauriac, canvasses the foothills of the Alps with John Berger and follows Colette to the trenches at Verdun, before finally heading to Paris, where he consigns Maupassant to an asylum and Sartre to his grave. A paean to the glories of French literature, art, landscape, food and wine, En Route is a heartfelt exploration of where the country finds itself after so many centuries at the centre of European life.

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9780861548903

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Reviews

'Fascinating, funny and elegiac. This personal, affectionate yet irreverent tour of France in the footsteps of some of its greatest writers is sheer bliss. I’m still haunted by Sartre’s lobster, Maupassant’s syphilitic madness and Colette’s daring in ""tickling the libido"" of Paris.' —Sofka Zinovieff, author of Eurydice Street 'En Route by Peter Fiennes is a masterful exploration of the lives of a dozen writers ranging from Simone de Beauvoir and Edith Wharton to Jean Paul Sartre and Guy de Maupassant as the author follows their literary trajectories through France. Fiennes seamlessly blends literary criticism with his own personal story as he meditates on art, literature, the changing landscapes of France and the formative power of place.' —Joanna Pocock, author of Surrender

'Fascinating, funny and elegiac. This personal, affectionate yet irreverent tour of France in the footsteps of some of its greatest writers is sheer bliss. I’m still haunted by Sartre’s lobster, Maupassant’s syphilitic madness and Colette’s daring in ""tickling the libido"" of Paris.' —Sofka Zinovieff, author of Eurydice Street

Author Information

Peter Fiennes is the author of the critically acclaimed A Thing of Beauty and Footnotes. As a publisher for Time Out, he nurtured a lifelong obsession with old guidebooks, creating award-winning city guides, walking books and titles about Britain’s countryside and seaside. He lives in south London and has travelled around France all his life.

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