More about France - Julian More

This sentimental journey around France is partly an evocation of things past - the author's search for the spirit of Sartre and Greco in the cafes and jazz clubs of late-1940s St Germain des Pres; a lucky breakdown on the old N7 which landed him in a Valence gastronomic paradise; family life and other games in and around St Tropez in the Sixties. It also offers a picture of things present - learning to live with the bloodymindedness of Parisians when More finally bought a tiny apartment in Montparnasse; the subterranean splendours of the Channel Tunnel; the magic of his tumbledown farmhouse in the Midi, near Mont Ventoux.;Always intrigued by the mystery that is France, More goes to Burgundy in search of a lost village and finds the Romantic poet Lamartine's chateau, to the Loire Valley and the tragi-comedy of French country life, and to the Nice of crime in low and high places. He offers a portrait of the luminous beauty of the Gulf of Morbigan in Brittany, and an hilarious account of his honeymoon there, when he was poisoned by shellfish.;Julian More has written the book and lyrics for musicals, including "Expresso Bongo", "Irma la Douce" and "Songbook", and is the author of "Views From a French Farmhouse" and several other travel books on France. He has been visiting the country for more than 40 years and has lived there since the mid-1970s.