Summer 2024 Reading: The MyFrenchLife™️ French Book Club is, by exception, offering a varied format for this reading period.

During this Summer 2024 reading period, we offer a list of ten books from which you may choose the book or books you wish to read!

This season we give you a choice to match your summer lifestyle.

Jacqueline Dubois Pasquier is taking a summer break and reading books other than from this list. On the other hand, I will select from this fascinating list, hopefully, more than one book - let’s see… In summary, the choice is yours, but do let us know what you think of this choice.

At the culmination of this reading period, we will hold an online EVENT, where we'll all get to present 'our book' which will be a great way to discover other French books.

In the northern autumn, September, that is, we will return to our usual format with just one book on our reading list, which we will read before the end of the calendar year.

Now is the time to make your book selection and order your book/books.

Do let us know in the comments if you'll be reading with us and if you'll be following via our:
- Facebook private Bookclub group of our
- French Bookclub on Substack.

Merci

Judy MacMahon and Jacqueline Dubois Pasquier

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Summer 2024 Reading

A) A selection of recently translated French novels (summer 2024)  

1- ‘ And The Stones Cry Out’ by Clara Dupond-Monot, translated by Ben Faccini

2- ‘Connemara’ by Nicolas Mathieu’, translated by Sam Taylor

3- ‘A Good Life’ by Virginie Grimaldi, translated by Hildegarde Serle

Emma and Agathe are sisters. They grew up together yet are very different. Agathe, the youngest, messy, and ardent, has always taken up all the space in the bath, in the bedroom, and Emma's heart. After five years of unexplained silence, Emma arranges to meet Agathe in the family’s holiday home. After their beloved grandmother passed away, the place must be emptied, and the memories revisited. The two sisters have a week to tell each other everything and make up for the time they spent apart. Will they be able to fix the past in the beauty of the summer in the Basque Country, where their childhood is knocking at the door?

4- ‘Fresh Water for Flowers’ by Valerie Perrin, translated by Hildegarde Serle

5- ‘Swimming in Paris’ by Colombe Schneck, translated by Lauren Elkin and Natasha Lehrer

6- ‘Living with our Dead’ by Delphine Horvilleur, translated by Steven Rendall

7- ‘A Single Rose’ by Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison Anderson

French author Muriel Barbery, ('The Elegance of the Hedgehog' - based in Paris), has written these two books, both based in Kyoto where the author lived for some time. The French and Japanese combination is powerful.

Judy particularly recommends ‘A Single Rose’ - the story of a woman's journey to discover the Japanese father she never knew and a love she never thought possible (2020) - and also 'One Hour of Fervor', also based in Kyoto. (Long-listed Goncourt 2022)

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B) To complete this list, we are adding three historical novels set in France, written originally in English:

8- ‘Paris in Ruin’ by M.K. Tod

Paris 1870. Raised for a life of parties and servants, Camille and Mariele have much in common, but it takes the horrors of war to bring them together to fight for the city and the people they love.

9- ‘The secret of the Grand Hôtel du Lac’ by Kathryn Gauci 

‘Another masterpiece from one of my favorite historical fiction writers! “The Secret of the Grand Hôtel du Lac” has everything a well-written historical novel should have: most thorough research; the setting so vividly described it instantly transports you into a dangerous world of occupied France; complex characters that are so perfectly imperfect and infinitely brave, you’ll be rooting for them till the very end.'

*Note that Kathryn is a Bookclub member and Contributor for MyFrenchLife Magazine and that you can ask her anything!

10- ‘The Strange Eventful History’ by Claire Messud

* All titles include a link to their Goodreads page except the last one (#10), which is linked to the author’s webpage. 

What next?

Please let us know in the comments below if you intend to join us in this Summer 2024 Reading period - and which channel you'll be following/discussing your book/s?
- Facebook private Bookclub group of our
- French Bookclub on Substack.

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AND… here is an article about how our French Book Club works.

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