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Great Books set in Three Cheese-producing Regions of France
9th July 2024
Great books set in three Cheese-producing Regions of France… Normandy, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The TripFiction database has great books set in each. Below we tell you a little bit about the cheeses made in each, and combine that with a recommendation of five books set in each region. Curl up with some brilliant cheese and a great book!
Normandy
Whilst Camembert can be made anywhere in the world, Camembert de Normandie is confined to the picturesque commune and is all the better for it due to its artisanal production which intensifies both the flavours and textures of the cheese.
Livarot offers history dating back to the Roman times as well as woodland, riverside and the famous Calvados apple cider orchards. The yellow-gold hued Livarot PDO can be easily identified by the strands of straw wrapped around it. As a result of its frequent washing, the cheese is pretty pungent and its flavours are strong with earthy and bitter notes.
The village of Pont-l’Evêque is just 12km from the stunning Deauville-Trouville coast. It is also the setting of Flaubert’s Un cœur simple – so well worth a visit for fans of French literature. This square-shaped cheese is pale when young but develops orange and pink hues on the rind as it ages. Soft and creamy with subtle flavours Pont-l’Evêque is a good cheese for those who prefer a milder taste.
Neufchâtel-en-Bray is a wonderful Norman village which has seen its fair share of battles due to its strategic location.. Neufchâtel PDO is said to have been shaped into a heart by the young women who worked in the dairies and offered the cheese as a gift to the English soldiers whom they’d fallen in love with during the Hundred Years’ War. However, Neufchâtel’s tender appearance is not reflected in its taste, which is salty and sharp – perhaps typical of many a romance!
Our recommended Normandy books:
Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi
Giverny. During the day, the home of the famous artist Claude Monet and the gardens where he painted his waterlilies. But once the tourists have gone, there is a darker side to the peaceful French village.
This is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jérôme Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens. In his pocket is a postcard of Monet’s Waterlilies with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday.
Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jérôme Morval’s corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious, rumoured painting of Black Waterlilies?
The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruis Zafón
A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the mechanical beings he has created… an enigma surrounding strange lights that shine through the mists that envelop the small island on which the old lighthouse stands… a shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods… these are the elements of a mystery that bind 14-year-old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in the Blue Bay. Irene’s mother has taken a job as a housekeeper for the toymaker, Lazarus, but his house contains more secrets than Irene and Ishmael have bargained for.
Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander
After escaping death at the hands of a ruthless murderer while honeymooning in Constantinople (Tears of Pearl), Lady Emily is recuperating from her wounds at her mother-in-law’s estate in Normandy when, while out horseback riding in the countryside, she comes across the body of a young woman who has been horribly murdered. Her wounds are identical to those inflicted on the victims of Jack the Ripper, who is wreaking havoc across the channel in London. Lady Emily and Colin learn that the victim is the daughter of a high born family of French aristocrats who had been committed to an asylum for the insane. While there, she had given birth to an illegitimate child who was spirited away and may be dead. As Lady Emily pursues a trail of clues (and bodies) to the beautiful medieval city of Rouen and a crumbling chateau in the country, she begins to worry about her own sanity: she hears the cries of a little girl she cannot find and discovers blue ribbons left in the child’s wake. Emily is on the verge of solving the mystery, when she is suddenly taken captive by the killer and held in an isolated tower where she once again hears the eerie cries of the lost child. She has to muster all her courage in a terrifying game of wits against a cold and brilliant murderer or she will be his next victim.
Badfellas by Tonino Benacquista
Released as a film called ‘The Family’ with Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones. The story is violent, pacy and full of black humour. Imagine the Soprano family arriving in France, or perhaps better, Ray Liotta, the snitch from ‘Goodfellas’ settling down with his family in a small town in Normandy.
Under cover of darkness, an American family moves into a villa in Cholong-sur-Avre in Normandy. Fred Blake tells everyone he is writing a history of the landings. In fact Blake is Giovanni Manzoni, an ex-Mafia boss who grassed and is now in the FBI Witness Protection Program. Having blown his cover a number of times in the US, the FBI finally sends him to France. Things happen to this thuggish family: a plumber who angers Fred with delays and exorbitant estimates ‘falls down the stairs’ and breaks both arms, the manager of the local supermarket insults Maggie behind her back so that afternoon his supermarket burns down, Warren, the son, starts a gang in his lycée, to intimidate and extort other pupils. A coincidence beyond belief blows Fred’s cover yet again and, with the arrival of the shooters from Newark, he is able to dive back into the violent life of crime he misses so much.
Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq
Dissatisfied and discontent, Florent-Claude Labrouste feels he is dying of sadness. His young girlfriend hates him and his career as an engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture is pretty much over. His only relief comes in the form of a pill – white, oval, small. Recently released for public consumption, Captorix is a new brand of anti-depressant which works by altering the brain’s release of serotonin.
Armed with this new drug, Labrouste decides to abandon his life in Paris and return to the Normandy countryside where he used to work promoting regional cheeses, and where he had once been in love. But instead of happiness, he finds a rural community devastated by globalisation and European agricultural policies, and local farmers longing, like Labrouste himself, for an impossible return to what they remember as the golden age.
Written by one of the most provocative and prophetic novelists of his generation, Serotonin is at once a devastating story of solitude, longing and individual suffering, and a powerful criticism of modern life.
Burgundy-Franche-Comté
A little over two hours from Lyon, with its world-renowned mountain cheeses and stunning scenery, the region of Jura is heaven for cheese lovers. Comté PDO is no doubt the cheese of the Jura region. You can visit farms, fruit groves, dairies and cheese caves. This complex, versatile cheese is one of France’s most popular PDOs and is a favourite of chefs around the world.
To extend your discovery of the region’s cheeses further, don’t hesitate to try Morbier PDO, Bleu de Gex PDO and the famous Cancoillotte.
Our recommended Burgundy-Franche-Comté books:
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin
Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Random visitors, regulars, and her colleagues―three gravediggers, three groundskeepers, and a priest―visit her to warm themselves in her lodge, where laughter, companionship, and occasional tears mix with the coffee that she offers them. Her daily life is lived to the rhythms of their hilarious and touching confidences.
Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of a man―Julien Seul, local police chief―who insists on depositing the ashes of his recently departed mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger. It soon becomes clear the grave Julien is looking for belongs to his mother’s one-time lover, and that his mother’s story of clandestine love is intertwined with Violette’s own secret past and the grief within it.
With Fresh Water for Flowers, Valérie Perrin gives readers the funny, moving, intimately told story of a woman who believes obstinately in happiness. Perrin has the rare talent of illuminating the exceptional and the poetic in what seems ordinary. A delightful, atmospheric, absorbing fairy tale full of poetry, generosity, and warmth.
The Dragonfly by Kate Dunn
The Dragonfly offers an enchanting account of the relationship between a middle-aged Englishman, Colin and his French granddaughter, Delphine, who are thrown together when her mother is killed.
A complicated and unhappy family history haunts this unlikely couple on their voyage on Colin’s small boat, the Dragonfly. The story unfolds along the beautiful rivers south of Paris, through dramatic landscapes, punctuated by exquisite medieval villages.
Delphine is nine years old and full of attitude and pain. At first she confounds her grandfather, who is used to a solitary, retired life and does not speak French, but gradually they come to trust each other, and he allows long-buried resentments and painful, complex emotions to surface as he rediscovers both the joys and burdens of parenting.
But there’s an even greater shadow over their journey: how did Delphine’s mother die? Her father, Colin’s son, is in prison awaiting trial for her murder…
The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah
Sweetbitter meets The Nightingale in this page-turning novel about a woman who returns to her family’s ancestral vineyard in Burgundy and unexpectedly uncovers a lost diary, an unknown relative, and a secret her family has been keeping since World War II.
To become one of only a few hundred certified wine experts in the world, Kate must pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine examination. She’s failed twice before; her third attempt will be her last chance. Suddenly finding herself without a job and with the test a few months away, she travels to Burgundy to spend the fall at the vineyard estate that has belonged to her family for generations. There she can bolster her shaky knowledge of Burgundian vintages and reconnect with her cousin Nico and his wife, Heather, who now oversee day-to-day management of the grapes. The one person Kate hopes to avoid is Jean-Luc, a talented young winemaker and her first love.
The Snakes by Sadie Jones
Bea and Dan, recently married, rent out their tiny flat to escape London for a few precious months. Driving through France they visit Bea’s dropout brother Alex at the hotel he runs in Burgundy. Disturbingly, they find him all alone and the ramshackle hotel deserted, apart from the nest of snakes in the attic.
When Alex and Bea’s parents make a surprise visit, Dan can’t understand why Bea is so appalled, or why she’s never wanted him to know them; Liv and Griff Adamson are charming, and rich. They are the richest people he has ever met. Maybe Bea’s ashamed of him, or maybe she regrets the secrets she’s been keeping.
Tragedy strikes suddenly, brutally, and in its aftermath the family is stripped back to its rotten core, and now neither Bea nor Alex can escape…
Nevers by Sara Cassidy
Resourceful fourteen-year-old Odette is on the move again, traveling as a stowaway on a cheese cart with her hapless mother, Anneline. They are in Burgundy, France, in 1799, fleeing yet another calamity caused by Anneline (who is prone to killing people accidentally). At dawn they find themselves in a town called Nevers, which is filled with eccentric characters, including a man who obsessively smells hands, another who dreams of becoming a chicken, and a donkey that keeps the town awake at night, braying about his narrow life. As Odette establishes a home in an abandoned guardhouse, she makes a friend in the relaxed Nicois and finds work as a midwife’s assistant. She and Nicois uncover a mystery that may lead to riches and, more important for Odette, a sense of belonging.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
La Route d’Auvergne takes in a dramatic landscape which includes valleys, lakes and gorges and the five PDO cheeses of the region and is within three hours of Lyon.
Saint-Nectaire PDO is a truly unique cheese as its rind is always irregular and never the same colour. Considered one of the jewels of Auvergne gastronomy, its colour-changing rind envelopes a soft, mild and creamy cheese.
The commune of Cantal is perfect for those wishing to explore France ‘off the beaten track’. Cantal PDO has an ivory coloured paste that is encased in a dry rind. With age, the cheese becomes dark yellow and the rind becomes thicker. As a young cheese it has a fresh buttery taste which becomes fruitier and more intense with age.
One of the production areas of Fourme d’Ambert PDO is the Puy-de-Dôme at 1968 ft of altitude. Puy-de-Dôme is one of the youngest volcanoes in the Massif Central and with clear skies you will have incredible views. Fourme d’Ambert is ivory white sprinkled with blue and grey spots that form in the holes with occasional blue veins. It has the familiar musty aroma and salty taste of blue cheese but is well rounded and balanced on the palate.
One of the most beautiful villages in France, Salers is distinctive due to its dark architecture, built with the dark grey volcanic stone, that sits atop the emerald green fertile landscape. The cheese Salers PDO is also special, with production limited from mid-May until mid-November. A young Salers has a pronounced fresh buttery aroma that melts in the mouth. As the cheese matures, a number of tastes develop, including pungent, musky, woody and smoky notes – a must-try for cheese connoisseurs!
Our book recommendations for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes:
The Glovemaker’s War by Katherine Williams
Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this tale of three generations of women tells of bravery, secrets, lies, family conflict and discovery: the consequences of one courageous woman’s decision to join the Special Operations Executive in World War Two.
In 1943, when the SOE recruits bilingual Eve Harrison to work with the French Resistance as a courier, she eagerly accepts the challenge. Disguised as a Parisian glovemaker, she travels to occupied France with her mission partner Sylvie. Based in her uncle’s glove making factory in Grenoble she transmits important messages back to England. But the risks she and Sylvie take result in the discovery of the Resistance network by the Germans. Tragedy strikes again when she believes Luc, the man with whom she has fallen in love, has been killed. Pregnant and heartbroken, she returns to England where she does her best to resume her life…
Seventy-three years later and in failing health, she reveals her story to her granddaughter Georgina, whose own journey of self-discovery culminates in her quest to find out if her grandfather is still alive.
In The Glovemaker’s War, a work of fiction by Katherine Williams, we are made aware of the courage and resilience of a generation of women, whose stories went untold for decades after the end of World War Two.
Murder in Grenoble by Susan Kiernan-Lewis
Maggie and Grace’s plan to work out their differences at a charming ski resort in Grenoble takes a deadly nose-dive when they become trapped by an avalanche with ten people–one of whom is a cold-blooded murderer. Will the two of them make up in time to uncover who the killer is before he or she systematically makes his way through the guest roster, one murder at a time?
After the Crash by Michel Bussi
A dark, brilliantly conceived and deeply chilling novel that has sold over 700,000 copies in the author’s native France. ‘A novel so extraordinary that it reminded me of reading Steig Larsson for the very first time . . . Bussi breaks every rule in the book, but I doubt I’ll read a more brilliant crime novel this year’ – Joan Smith, Sunday Times
On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. 168 out of 169 passengers are killed instantly. The miraculous sole survivor is a three-month-old baby girl. Two families, one rich, the other poor, step forward to claim her, sparking an investigation that will last for almost two decades. Is she Lyse-Rose or Emilie?
Eighteen years later, having failed to discover the truth, private detective Credule Grand-Duc plans to take his own life, but not before placing an account of his investigation in the girl’s hands. But, as he sits at his desk about to pull the trigger, he uncovers a secret that changes everything – then is killed before he can breathe a word of it to anyone…
The Silk Romance by Helena Fairfax
Jean-Luc Olivier is a devastatingly handsome racing-driver with the world before him. Sophie Challoner is a penniless student, whose face is unknown beyond her own rundown estate in London. The night they spend together in Paris seems to Sophie like a fairytale-a Cinderella story without the happy ending. She knows she has no part in Jean-Luc’s future. She made her dying mother a promise to take care of her father and brother in London. One night of happiness is all Sophie allows herself. She runs away from Jean-Luc and returns to England to keep her promise.
Safely back home with her father and brother, and immersed in her college work, Sophie tries her best to forget their encounter, but she reckons without Jean-Luc. He is determined to find out why she left him, and intrigued to discover the real Sophie. He engineers a student placement Sophie can’t refuse, and so, unwillingly, she finds herself back in France, working for Jean-Luc in the silk mill he now owns.
Thrown together for a few short weeks in Lyon, the romantic city of silk, their mutual love begins to grow. But it seems the fates are conspiring against Sophie’s happiness. Jean-Luc has secrets of his own. Then, when disaster strikes at home in London, Sophie is faced with a choice-stay in this glamorous world with the man she loves or return to her family to keep the sacred promise she made her mother.
Minced, Marinated, and Murdered by Noel Balen and Vanessa Barrot
When food is so much more than a meal…
A routine assignment in Lyon, France’s traditional capital of gourmet food, turns bitter for food writer Laure Grenadier when a beloved chef is found murdered. A wave of panic follows with a second death, and Laure sets out to find the truth. As she reviews the city’s traditional bistros, interviews the town’s best chefs and local food producers, and shares stories and culinary lore with her photographer Paco Alvarez, she uncovers secrets and rivalries. But will she find the murderer before the city loses more of its master chefs?
Laure’s passion for food and deep knowledge of culinary history combine with a reporter’s natural curiosity and a particular Parisian chic, turning her into a natural sleuth in a city where food is so much more than a meal. Paco’s photographer’s eye brings the details to life, while murder and mayhem spice up the mix.
In this fun, satisfying, mouth-watering French mystery novel, authors Noel Balen and Vanessa Barrot whisk readers to France for a troubling mystery, local culinary anecdotes, recipes, home-grown products, and very human feelings.
“When you feel as much hunger as grief, then you know you’re still alive.”
Great Books set in Three Cheese-producing Regions of France… Enjoy your combination of cheese and great reading!
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