Book Club

Romance is in the air

by Alison Morton

February is the month we think of romance, especially around Valentine’s Day on 14th February.

Valentine himself is a mystery. Two St Valentines are listed in the Roman Martyrology for 14th February; one was a Roman priest killed in Rome in the 3rd century; the other was the Bishop of Terni, killed during the reign of emperor Claudius Gothicus (268 to 270). The two Valentines may well be the same person!

How does Valentine have such prominence today?

Eighteenth century antiquarian Alban Butler suggested Valentine's Day was created as an attempt to supersede the mid-February pagan holiday of Lupercalia. This idea has lately been dismissed by other researchers (including me!).

Legends about Saint Valentine were first recorded in the 14th century, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer; known for a playful imagination, he probably picked a saint out of the calendar at random! "For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate." And the lovebirds legend was created…

Valentine’s Day is now widely recognised as a day for romance and devotion and Valentine himself has become the patron saint of engaged couples, beekeepers, happy marriages and love. But he is also invoked against fainting, plague and epilepsy. Quite a mixed bag!

So how does this help our writing?

Romantic fiction is one of the biggest selling genres. In the US, unit sales for romance books topped 47 million in the 12 months ending March 2021 (print and e-book sales combined), representing an increase of 24% from the previous year, according to NPD BookScan. Romance accounted for 18% of adult fiction unit sales in the 12 months ending March 2021, making it the second most popular fiction genre after general fiction and which accounted for 30% of adult fiction sales in the same time frame. (https://fortune.com/2021/08/21/ rom-com-pandemic-book-sales-romance-bookstore-day/).

Love and emotion are a part of life and can play a vital part in our stories. Even if you’re not writing a romance as such, adding a relationship gives your story spark, emotional punch and personal tension. But it doesn’t have to go to full realisation with graphic description; hints and allusion can be equally powerful, sometimes more so.

Romance is not just about pink gauze, heart throbs and dishy dukes. These days, it crosses every genre – thrillers, crime, paranormal, historical, science fiction and literary, just to name a few. The marker for romantic fiction of any sort is that it ends with ‘Happy Ever After’ or at least “Happy for Now’.

Romance should be woven into your story from the beginning (whether either or both characters know it or not) and that attraction should support the plot. Parachuting a random romantic element halfway through a novel to add conflict and/or spice can look contrived. As the characters meet obstacles, and tension ramps up, there might be moments when they become closer through their common purpose.

Sometimes romance can introduce a plot twist. A character may betray the protagonist and cause them a double grief. Or he/she might provide the strong faith in the protagonist that keeps them going when all seems lost. As with other types of character – best friend, business rival, boss or junior – the romantic interest may play a pivotal part in the story, or even as catalyst of the climax to the story (pun intended).

St Valentine today inspires romance with its hesitation, uncertainty and tenderness along the way. He is, after all, symbolic of engaged couples, happy marriages and love. But why not introduce his other aspects into your story to add layers; fainting and epilepsy for health concerns, beekeeping for environmentalism and plague for a doctor or nurse helping to save the world and finding unexpected love?

Happy writing!

Alison has compiled a selection of articles from this column into ‘The 500 Word Writing Buddy’, available on Amazon (click here). Her latest thriller, Double Pursuit, part set in Poitou, is now out.

This Month’s Book Reviews

Sophie Valroux’s Paris Stars by Samantha Vérant

Review by Jacqui Brown

In the first book in this series, The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux, we left chef Sophie at the chateau in rural France she had inherited from her Grandmère Odette, following a traumatic life change. Right from the start of this book the surprises continue to come at Sophie thick and fast, and she finds herself pulled in different directions, leaving her unsure as to where her dreams lie. To take her mind off the grief of losing her grandmère, and her inner fears of settling down with her childhood sweetheart Remi, she throws herself into work at the chateau and her delicious creations in the kitchen. With her reputation spreading far beyond rural France, it isn’t long before an offer to cook at a celebrity event in Paris arrives. With the backing of her team, but against Remi’s wishes, she knows she must focus on Paris, despite the many challenges. Sophie still has a lot to learn about herself, her grandmère, and Remi, but will Paris offer her the answers she is looking for? I have to say, I was with Remi here, shouting at the pages as if I could influence her decisions, although I did enjoy the glamour and drama Paris provided.

This is a book that is easy to get stuck into, with great fun characters who left me with a huge smile on my face, as well as feeling like I was part of their chateau family. The sense of loyalty is heart-warming, the passion and emotions breathtaking, the food descriptions delicious; it tickled my taste buds and so much more.

We all need a luxury break from reality every now and then and this book gave me that.

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Sisters Behaving Badly by Maddie Please

Review by Jacqui Brown

Sisters Jenny and Kitty are very different and haven’t spoken for years, until they are forced to spend time together in a rundown cottage in Brittany. Fun-loving Kitty has a string of failed marriages, whereas sensible Jenny has been with husband Paul for over thirty years. They have a lot of work ahead of them in this book, which neatly combines multiple storylines and all sorts of relationship dramas, meaning lots of action to keep the pages turning. As they battle the dust of a renovation project and the weeds of the unkempt garden they have inherited from Aunt Sheila, they can’t ignore the need to rebuild their once close relationship. Pausing only to sip from a decent bottle of Sheila’s French wine, they start the soul-searching process of unpicking their past mistakes, understanding each other and looking to where the future will take them. The characters in this book often made me smile, despite the fact some of the situations were anything but funny. I warmed to Kitty immediately and the more I discovered about Jenny’s family life, the more I felt for her too. Life’s not always plain sailing, but there are plenty of entertaining moments cleverly crafted into the story as they try to cope with events that are often outside their comfort zones. I especially enjoyed the hilarious antics of the assorted animals (and Frenchmen) they seem to pick up along the way.

This book was a dream read and the more I read, the more I loved it. I enjoyed the family dramas, the French magic, the humour and the love (in all its forms) that shines through. Add in a well-described location, a few handy and rather dashing locals, plus some tasty regional food treats, and this book had a lot to offer me. If you need a pick-me-up book to start the new year off with, I can recommend Sister’s Behaving Badly.

ENJOYING FRENCH

by Howard Needs

ANew Year, for which I wish all of you freedom from the restrictions placed upon us and good health, untainted by the threat of Covid-19. The holiday period was a quiet one for me, in which I read more than usual; the books were a mixture of detectives and SciFi (mostly mediocre), a popular science tome and a new book from one of the French authors whose work I have read before . Books take months if not years to be written and published, and the reading thereof is accomplished in a matter of days if not hours, and so simple maths show that you have to have a rather large stable of authors. Mind you, some SciFi authors can manage multiple books per year, but of a rather mixed quality and certainly not, I think, of the most imaginative sort. But I will get back to the topic in hand – French and French authors. All three of the following authors write quality books, with plots that are reasonable and with quiet, substantial main characters.

Bruno Robert des Douets – Series “Le prevôt de Mont Saint Michel”

This is set in 1160 and the years thereafter, and the main person, Ascelin de Roncei, is the provost of the monastery of Mont Saint Michel. He was a crusader who later took monastic vows and became responsible for the security of the monastery. The problems and mysteries that he is involved in are linked to real historical situations, and so we see, for example, Hildegard von Bingen (abbess, mystic, writer of books on herbal medicinal lore, composer and indeed an intellectual of her age) and Aliénor d’Aquitaine appearing briefly. The series so far consists of six books, with all the action taking place in coastal Normandy and in particular the wide area where the monastery had property. This, by the way, extends in the third book, Le terrifiant cercueil en étain, to the monastery of St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, which was a daughter community of the Norman Mont Saint Michel.

In the first book, Le secret du manuscrit perdu, Provost Ascelin de Roncei, aided by his sergeant-at-arms and his men, investigates the loss of a precious manuscript from the monastery library. The abbot, Dom Robert de Torigni, is concerned not only about the loss of the book itself, but also about the loss of the rumoured content – magic spells and formulae.

The most recent book in the series, L'ensorcellement du Mont Dolent, deals with the resurgence of some of the old, druidic beliefs of the Gallic forebears of the local inhabitants, although this topic does not occupy the entire story. All told, these books provide interesting history, well-drawn and consistent characters, and convincing plots, and the reader can follow the movements of the characters on the IGN maps.

Giles Houdouin – Series “Une enquête en Anjou”

This series plays at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII of France, and the two main characters are “sergents royals ”, men who are responsible to the king for the administration of the law in their respective communes, in their case to the east of Angers, on the Loire. Brothers-in-law, they are part of the farming and wine-growing community, and the three books are set in the region between Angers and Saumur. The books published so far are written from the point of view of Thomas,

“sergent royal” of Brain-sur-l'Authion, in Anjou, and they remain local to Angers and to the Loire to the east.

The first book, Au nom de la mère et du fils, concerns the armed conflict between Louis XIII and his mother, Marie de’ Medici, at Les Ponts-de-Cé, in August 1620, and the secret manoeuvring between the parties concerned. The story runs from Thomas’s village through to the machinations of the great nobles, involving villagers, spies and historical figures.

Les gabeleux, the latest book, deals with salt smuggling on the Loire between the salt flats of Guérande and the hinterland of France, and of course there is a second plot involved with the first – but to say more would reveal too much. All three books deal with country life and the conditions under which the poor folk of country and town had to live, coping with famine, disease and the winter cold.

François Lange – Series “Les enquêtes de Fañch Le Roy”

The publisher of these books, Éditions du Palémon, also publishes Jean Failler’s books. They are a Breton publisher, and the authors and subjects have a strong connection with Brittany. Many of their books are detective (polar) investigations, and these books written by François Lange are no exception. The main character is Fañch Le Roy, a police investigator in the period of Napoléon III who is based in Quimper. Most of the action takes place in Finistère (also in Brittany), although one book finishes up in Paris. The books deal mostly with local criminality, but there is a general theme that runs through them concerning royalist plots to overthrow the emperor. There is also a romance so delicately handled that you can easily miss it – makes a change from modernity. Detective investigative stories are all very much the same, that is, they involve interviewing of persons concerned, gathering evidence and making inferences, leading to the apprehension of the criminal. These books are no exception to the rule, but they work within the legal and political limits of the time. What is interesting is the combination of the fast travel by train to the metropolis and the slow use of horse and shanks’ pony out in the countryside. Also, there is a lot of cooperation between the police and the Gendarmerie, from whom aid comes in the form of a squad of soldiers on horseback. No crime scene investigators, and precious little forensic evidence, but still policing as we know it, in both organisation and intent. If you have read any of Anne Perry’s Victorian-period detectives, William Monk and, set a bit later, Thomas Pitt, you will find the same organisation, again without modern investigative infrastructure (most if not all of these Anne Perry books are available in French translation).

So, five books in the series thus far – all enjoyable and instructive because you are taken through the Brittany landscape in each book. Relatively easy to read, although as always, the Kindle dictionary does trojan service. I have been writing these articles not really as reviews, but more as a way of trying to communicate my own pleasure in reading the books. If you would like a deeper description of the plot of any of the books, then that is to be found on the Amazon website.

TAKE A BREAK - SOLUTIONS - PAGES 14-16

Easy Crossword:

B I S C A Y # N E A R B Y # S # O # # A # # S # R # B L I N D # P A D S T OW # A # T # # P # # E # G # S N A R E # R H O M B U S # D # A # # O # # B # E # # # A C A P P E L L A # # # A # E # # R # # Y # A # T R I P O L I # S P E R M # M # T # # A # # L # R # A P R I C O T # C A B I N # I # O # # E # # N # V # S T I N K Y # A N T L E R

Sudoku:

3 9 8 1 5 6 7 4 2 5 4 2 3 8 7 1 6 9 1 7 6 4 9 2 5 8 3 7 8 1 2 4 3 9 5 6 9 3 4 7 6 5 8 2 1 6 2 5 8 1 9 4 3 7 2 6 9 5 7 4 3 1 8 8 5 7 6 3 1 2 9 4 4 1 3 9 2 8 6 7 5

Toughie Crossword

("Seven Deadly Sins")

H U S T L E R # S U P E R A # L # U # U # C # L # A G R O S S # B A R G A I N G # T # T # # # A # T # D A C H E # G L U T T O N Y R # # # S # E # C # O # # D I S # W R A T H # N A P # # T # E # S # Y # # # R P E R M E A T E # O G R E R # A # T # # # E # R # T I N F A N C Y # N I E C E D # E # E # A # V # E # E E I D E R # K E Y E D I N

Word Search:

CONNECT FOUR :

Q1. Involved in Labours of Hercules Q2. Dr Who companions Q3. Largest McDonalds in the world Q4. Places mentioned in Poirot novel titles