The Tomb: a bonus epilogue to Château des Corbeaux


Book Description

Find out what is in the tomb on Pascal and Dylan's vineyard property, buried in the ruins of the ancient abbey. Read Château des Corbeaux first, or you won't get it! :-)




Château des Corbeaux


Book Description

Pascal d'Onscon, once terrorizing wine fraud scammers across southern France, is now pushing papers for the French bureaucracy in the modern Cité du Vin in Bordeaux. But not for long. He dreams of being a vintner, his hands in the dirt, the grape on his tongue, blending his very own creation: a bottle of wine with his own label. Pascal has spent his life surrounded by French wine and winemakers. The idea that he could run his very own vineyard is tantalizing and keeps him up at night, dreaming of finding a small vineyard he can afford, somewhere in southwest France. His companion, Merle Bennett, the middle of five lawyer sisters, has her own aspirations. Two tiny cottages are begging to be renovated for summer rentals. Will the person camping in the back garden scuttle her plans? When Pascal puts an abandoned vineyard in his sights, he doesn't want to let go. But Château des Corbeaux, owned by two Brits, has a complicated history. Not just recently with vandalism and hostile neighbors, but long ago secrets that resurface. Reluctant sellers, his own finances, and more threaten to derail him as he struggles to work out a way to make his dream a reality. The second Pascal d'Onscon spinoff from the Bennett Sisters Mysteries, following DEAD FLAT in 2020. Read all the novels-- click on the series highlighted above.




The End and the Beginning


Book Description

First published in Germany in 1929, The End and the Beginning is a lively personal memoir of a vanished world and of a rebellious, high-spirited young woman's struggle to achieve independence. Born in 1883 into a distinguished and wealthy aristocratic family of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hermynia Zur Muhlen spent much of her childhood travelling in Europe and North Africa with her diplomat father. After five years on her German husband's estate in czarist Russia she broke with both her family and her husband and set out on a precarious career as a professional writer committed to socialism. Besides translating many leading contemporary authors, notably Upton Sinclair, into German, she herself published an impressive number of politically engaged novels, detective stories, short stories, and children's fairy tales. Because of her outspoken opposition to National Socialism, she had to flee her native Austria in 1938 and seek refuge in England, where she died, virtually penniless, in 1951. This revised and corrected translation of Zur Muhlen's memoir - with extensive notes and an essay on the author by Lionel Gossman - will appeal especially to readers interested in women's history, the Central European aristocratic world that came to an end with the First World War, and the culture and politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.




Twenty Years After


Book Description




The Frenchman


Book Description

Ooh-la-la, who doesn't love a Frenchman? Merle Bennett goes back to France -- and her Frenchman -- in this fifth installment of the Bennett Sisters mysteries. Sure that La Belle France will cure all her ills, and help her write a novel about the French Revolution, she sets out to prove her theory correct. Pascal, her Frenchman, scoffs at this. As a policeman he knows France is pretty to look at but not all that pretty under the surface. While Merle writes and renovates her stone cottage, Pascal encounters an old enemy, a man he put in prison years before. When Pascal disappears Merle isn't sure if their relationship is over, or something terrible has happened. 'The Frenchman' includes chapters of Merle's novel, a glimpse into life during the turmoil of the Revolution. With goats and a handsome stranger! Read the finished version of Merle's novel, 'Odette and the Great Fear.' A soupçon of danger, a brush with 'madame guillotine,' and the quirky characters of the French countryside, all collide in this new installment of the Bennett Sisters Mysteries, set in la belle France-- where, obviously, wine, sunshine, sunflowers, and Frenchmen cure all ills. Or do they?




Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia


Book Description

This book gathers examples of the author's criticism from the span of his writing career, each of which demonstrates his passion for the way we view movies, as well as how we write about them.




Lost in Lavender


Book Description

Mystery, romance, adventure, and more are in store for the youngest of five sisters, lawyers all, when she signs up to work at a lavender farm in Provence in Lost in Lavender, a Bennett Sisters Mystery. Facing a crossroads-- both career and personal-- the youngest of the five Bennett Sisters, Elise, does what she does best: she runs away to think. This time she runs to a farm in Provence that produces heaven-scented lavender for oils. The area is famous for the beautiful purple flower, the symbol of this southern region of France. Her sisters are stumped. Elise never seemed like the farming type, or even gardening, for that matter. But she's signed up for a farm stay vacation, an idea she got from an unlikely source, the trophy wife of one of her law partners. When she arrives, courtesy her older sister Merle who drives her to the Luberon from the Dordogne, she discovers she is the only guest at the picturesque family farm who is not a college student. The rest are all doing a French language exchange program and are 20 years younger than Elise, leaving her feeling like an outsider and wondering about her life choices. Not only is her judgment in men and careers awful, but she can't even plan a decent vacation. Meanwhile in the Dordogne, Merle's niece, Willow, arrives for some R&R before she starts law school. But she brings a few surprises with her, a boyfriend plus Elise's fiancé. Or is it ex-fiancé? It will take several sisters-- and of course Pascal-- to unravel the facts as all descend on southern France for July in the heat and lavender. Suspense, romance, intrigue, and humor as the summer heats up for the Bennett Sisters again. Another delicious adventure in international travel and cozy mystery as the Bennett Sisters fight their way to truth, justice, and a perhaps a summer fling, deep in the French countryside. A summer fling in France never hurt anyone, now did it?




The Taste for Beauty


Book Description

A collection of essays by the film-maker and critic Eric Rohmer written between 1948-1979.




The Films of Eric Rohmer


Book Description

Eric Rohmer was a key figure in French New Wave cinema. Contributors to this volume revisit, complicate, and upend accepted readings and interpretations of perennial Rohmerian topics including the important role of language in his films, the influence of the arts, depictions of gender and class, and the roles played by space and place in his films.




Blackbird Fly


Book Description

Book 1 of 18: Bennett Sisters Mysteries * An Enchanting Series! Such a delightful read. Fell in love with the characters, especially Merle and Pascal! Ms. McClendon has the exceptional ability to perform the magic of transporting this reader, and I'm sure others, to a place both familiar and foreign, but known deep down in one's psyche. I'm so very glad to have discovered the magic. Winsome and a bit addictive Had no idea what to expect when began this first series but became quite caught up in it all. The characters and mystery, the enchanting descriptions and personal struggles drew me into feeling as if these people are my friends. * Excellent author and story teller--Found her stories hard to put down. They were so human, suspenseful and darn good. The sisters become your sisters and their experience become yours. The authors description of person places and circumstances are so real you feel them. A great author. Delightful Sisters and Adventures --This is one of the most delightful series I have ever read... filled with adventure and excitement. Romance, joy of living and dead bodies accompany their adventures! You will be amused and mesmerized by this delightful series! * Highly recommended-- One of the best of the 50 or so books I've read during the pandemic stay at home. When Merle Bennett's husband suddenly dies, she is left adrift to deal with parenting their son, dealing with a mess of finances, and some of his sordid secrets. She decides to chuck it all for the moment and go to France, where he's left her a rundown cottage in the Dordogne. Once Merle gets there, she finds...well, France! An unexpected romance! Mystery galore! Murder! And not just murder, but the unnerving experience of being a suspect. Once her passport is confiscated, what can she do but stay and restore her ancient battered house? While enjoying the tender attention of the unusually well-educated, handsome and...yes, quite mysterious roofer she's hired. Particularly recommended for those who love France, whether you visit in reality or virtually, enjoying a glass of wine, this journey of self-discovery, and the power of sisterhood. Mystery lovers, chick lit fans, and cozy fanatics will all find it très chouette— more prosaically, simply awesome. Not to mention formidable!




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