Customer Reviews

Caves of Perigord

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Martin Walker has written more than a fine thriller. He lets the reader into the deeper meaning of France, French legend, French history, the centrality of art in French life, and why this extraordinary country exercises such a hold over the world.
The book is cut into three layers of time. The traditional flip-flop between the current era and WW2 - a standard favourite of thriller writers dealing with wartime themes for decades - is given new depth by a love-story set in pre-historic times when the famous wall paintings of Lascaux created art done by human hand.
Thus the book reads fast but the author's three decades or more of deep knowledge about French politics, attitudes, way of life and priorities in reflected is Walker's book. He was one of the most distinguished of Britain's foreign correspondents of the 1968 generation and like all great reporters he had strong political views - a love for the United States, a passionate belief that Europe must construct itself with his own country, Britain, finally a acknowledging its European destiny and a passion for that adulterous politics of all true Englishmen - a semi-unrequited desire for France.
Walker could have written a standard account of France today - and how many of our shelves groan with those journalist essays that are never worth reading a year or two later. Instead Walker has poured into a novel his affection for France, his cynicism about the twists and lies of French politics, and his understanding that only through its history and its art can anyone even begin to comprehend today's Frenchness.
His portrait of Francois Mitterrand cum Amdre Malraux - as the chief protagonist, Francois Malrand - is magnificent political biography disguised in the novelist's art.
Walker deserves a Legion d'Honneur or as much free wine, confit de canard, and cheese that the Perigord region can bestow on him. He will attract visitors in their thousands to explore this beautiful corner of a beautiful country.
Forget the current betises - stupidities - about France and the USA. France has a history and destiny that every Anglo-Saxon must understand in order to deal with this great but madly frustrating nation. Walker's book is the finest start to that process we have on offer. And since he is still has decades of good writing in front of him we may look forward to more novels though many of us Brits would love to see him writing foreign reports and commentaries again as the press in both Britain and the United States has, with a few notble exceptions, the weakest group of foreign affairs writers seen in generations.
Denis MacShane is the author of a biography of Francois Mitterrand. He is a British Member of Parliament and a Foreign Minister in Tony Blair's government. He speaks and writes French.

I was intrigued by the book cover showing the head of the bull and swastika. I thought the book might be a WWII story. It turned out that the book was a story about three time periods, including World War II. I was fascinated with the description of the people living in the prehistoric times and their society as described by Walker. The changes in the time period were at times a bit confusing. The book encouraged me to research the the Lascaux Cave, a cradle of world art. An article, using the same title, by Norbert Casteret appeared in the December 1948 National Geographic which describes the discovery of the Lascaux cave and actually shows some of the discovered art work. The article is a must for those reading the book. I found that the description of the resistance work in France was a bit confusing, It would have been helpful if the author included a map of the area for reference. The article in the National Geographic included such a map. Overall the Caves of Perigord kept my attention and prompted me to reasearch the Lascaux Cave.
Tullio Bertini
Author of Trapped in Tuscany

This is a well done novel that shifts back and forth from the present to the French resistance of World War II and to the Cro-magnon days of 17,000 years ago. That sounds bizarre but it works for the most part. Walker is a better-than-average writer who tells a fascinating -- though not quite compelling -- story.

The centerpiece of the story is a cave painting 17,000 years old. The author creates a rarity -- a plausible pre-historic culture and society -- with one flaw: a liberated female character who belongs to the present rather than the past.

The painting shows up one day on the desk of an art dealer in London and in attempting to trace its origin she journeys to the Dordogne region of France where she becomes immersed in the nearly-forgotten history of the French Resistance of World War II. The best part of the book is Walker's account of the Resistance and the struggles between the Gaullists and the Communists. I could have read a lot more about the Resistance and wish that this part of the novel had been longer.

The book was successful in raising my interest about the cave paintings and the remote region of France where they are located. Had the ending been a little stronger, the mystery a little more mysterious, it would have been an outstanding -- rather than just a very good -- novel.

This is a magnificent, rich novel involving human triumph at its best (through love, leadership and enduring art) and its worst (through war and the struggle for exclusive possession).

The novel cycles through the viewpoints of prehistory (15000 BC), the French Resistance (in 1944) and the present. Each of these timeframes has its own triumphs, tragedies and mysteries.

There is at least one common thread throughout these different stories, and a sense that some aspects of humanity are timeless. This is a beautifully written novel: one to be savoured.

A friend of mine recently read and recommended this novel and I am grateful to her for doing so. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

In 1500 BC in the Vezere valley (what is now La Ferrassie in the south of France), only the true artisans are allowed to paint. These artists are a brotherhood that is considered holy and each man is only allowed to paint one animal. The Keeper of the Bulls tries to defy tradition by becoming the leader, thus forcing the keeper of the deer and his mate to run away. They find a cave far from their people and begin painting inside it.
In occupied France in 1944, murder occurs in that same cave. American Captain Manners sent to help the resistance and Francois Malrand, a leader of the French Resistance, agree to hide the caves. In the present day, Manners' son goes to an auction house in England with a rock painting from that cave, wondering how much it is worth. Lydia Dean knows it's priceless but before any decisions can be made about what to do with it, the painted rock goes missing. Since all roads lead to France, Lydia and Manners cross the Channel to try and find the rock and the cave where it belongs.

THE CAVES OF PERIGORD is a fascinating look into the prehistory of man, the French Resistance just prior to D-day, and the politics involved in the modern art world. The three tales are told in alternating chapters and Martin Walker is so talented the reader never loses interest when jumping from one era to another. Although there is plenty of action, this novel will be a literary success because the audience will care about the characters and hope everything turns out all right for them.

Harriet Klausner

Walker should get into a lot of trouble for this one. I lost a weekend to the rich tapestry of the Perigord, as evoked through his writing. Immediately after finishing, I passed the book on to a friend of mine, who was looking for something to read on the journey home, before she returned to studying for her exams. She never got round to the studying, and has spent the past few weeks frantically preparing for re-takes. She doesn't regret it though - the depth of characterisation and the fluid, yet gripping, plot made it all worthwhile.

Others have tried, with varying degrees of success, to evoke our pre-historic ancestors in fiction, but I often find myself left cold by the worlds they create. Not in this case. Walker has created a pre-historic world that I would like to believe in. One that I could (almost) live in. For the first time in a long time, pre-historic man has a human face - an appreciation for beauty, a desire to create, and a capacity for love beyond that which you'd expect of a cave-dweller. The Clan of the Cave Bear has been usurped by the Keeper of the Bulls.

But it doesn't stop there. Prehistory is seamlessly woven into tales of a further generation of Perigordan cave-dwellers - the fighters of the French Resistance. Knowing Walker's reputation as a historian, I expected much of these sections, but what we're given, although historically accurate in theme, is so much more! Where I expected a history lesson, I got a fast-paced ride through weapons drops, disabling train tracks, and the lives, loves, and energies of those involved. The Second World War, although in living memory, has never really had a face for the underground battles that were fought, and the risks encountered by those brave enough to fight for their beliefs. Walker has given the Resistance movements fictional heroes and champions, who no doubt bear resemblances to those whose stories were never told.

The modern rediscoveries of the caves, and the hunt for the explanation that no-one believed possible is supported by a strong cast of characters. However, many authors have recreated the modern world for us, and that is not where the challenge lies. The difficulty of this book, and where Walker succeeds the most, is recreating for his reader worlds that are both long-gone and right-now. History, whether accurate or interpreted, jumps straight off the page and into the mind's eye of the reader.

Congratulations, Mr Walker! You've turned an astonishingly simply premise into a superbly crafted novel that leaps over centuries and links three vastly different worlds!

Major Phillip Manners has inherited a piece of rock from his father, a World War II veteran who with his undercover Resistance cohorts including the current French president, François Malrand, was instrumental in slowing down a German Panzer division trying to reach Normandy to defend the occupation of France against the Allied D-Day invasion. But this piece of rock is much more than a simple piece of rock. It is actually a painting executed in the prehistoric style of cave painting that reached its artistic peak in Lascaux, France, in the Vézère River valley. When Manners took the painting to Lydia Dean, an expert in prehistoric art with a London auction house, to establish its value, she was shaken to her core. Immediately understanding its uniqueness and probable priceless nature, she also understood that it probably implied the existence of a hitherto undiscovered cave in France of the quality and magnitude of the caves at Lascaux - in short, another national French treasure trove of undiscovered art.

And the three linked stories? Simple ... first, the prehistoric world of Cro-Magnon man, 17,000 years ago in the Vézère, Lot and Dordogne River valleys in which the cave art was actually created; second, the brutal world of WW II occupied France in which the painting was accidentally discovered; and, finally, the modern day world of art, auctions, valuation and even national politics.

The story itself was quite enough to grab me but the writing ... well, that just put this wonderful novel right over the top. Walker's description of ice age Europe rivals anything produced by Jean Auel, William Sarabande or the Gears. In fact, for me, the brightest spot in the entire novel was his attempt to deal with the anthropological mystery of what ISN'T portrayed in the neolithic art in the Périgord caves - reindeer, the prime source of tools, clothing and food for the region, landscape and, of course, people. Walker's breathtaking story of the French Resistance, the local hatred of the Vichy turncoats, the struggle between the Communists and the Gaullists and the general brutal nature of a world at war is the equal of any of the great WW II authors such as Jack Higgins or Leon Uris. Lastly, his foray into the modern world of simple but compelling storytelling reminded me of the skills of such authors as Jeffrey Archer or Ken Follett.

Highly recommended. Four stars would have been five stars if the author and editors had thought to include a much needed map of the entire Périgord region.

P.S. Does anyone know why so many of the area's town names end in "-ac"?

Paul Weiss

Fascinating intertwining of three separate stories which have as their central theme a 15,000 year old cave drawing. The chapters of the book alternate between the present, 1943-4 in France, and 15,000 years ago in the Vezere river valley in the Perigord region of France.

Major Manners a British officer brings a framed cave drawing to an auction house to sell. Lydia Dean, who works there takes charge of the proposed sale and subsequent research into it's origin. After exhaustive research, even though there are similarities to the famous cave drawings of Lascaux, the origin of the drawing remains a mystery. Manners and Dean together go to France to try to uncover the answer to the mystery.

Manners father, the recently deceased, Colonel Manners was the owner of the drawing. He served in Vichy France in 1943 to 1944 as part of a team composed of himself, a Frenchman and an American. They helped coordinate the actions of the French Resistance against the Germans in the Perigord region. The French member of the team happens to be the present day president of France, Francois Malrand. The story gives a revealing account of the politics and actions of the French Resistance and leads up to the acquisition of the drawing by Colonel Manners.

The third story revolves around the love between Deer and Little Moon, 2 cave dwellers part of a Cro Magnon society in the Vezere river valley of France, 15,000 years ago. This group was responsible for the beautiful cave drawing of Lascaux. Walker expertly takes us through the mechanics of this cave dwelling culture. Deer is an apprentice and later becomes a keeper, a cave painter. This is a very exalted and spiritual position in the society. He and Little Moon, daughter of another keeper fall into a tabooed love and eventually run away.

The story takes us through the mystery of the origin of the cave art to a very satisfying conclusion. It was evident that much research went into the making of this very interesting novel.

Bjorn Kurten, a famous paleontologist, said that the use of a novel to discuss or portray early humans about whom very little is know except for the physical artificats they left is the appropriate way to do this. In this novel those artifacts are 17,000 year old cave paintings in France. And that is what Matin Walker the author does in this book.
Kurten thought that speculation by professionals about such people in professional texts are taken too seriously and literally by the public. Such speculations are just stories made up by the professionals based on their best guesses. He thought such stories should be told as such.
The author in this book uses a realistic tale of the adventures of some members of the French underground led by a
a trio of a French, British, and American special forces members
flown into German occupied France just before the invasion by the Allies. Harassing the Germans, this group used the caves in the area to hideout and store their equipment. One such cave contained these early paintings made famous by those that exist in the Cave of Lascaux.
The author does a very good job of intertwining his WW II adventure based loosely on what actually occurred as the French underground from their caves delayed a strong German force from reaching the invasion site to repel the Allies, and his speculation of what life may have been like for the inhabitants of those caves 17,000 years ago.
If you like realistic WWII adventure and are interested in speculating over the what life was like for our ancestors some 17,000 years ago, you will enjoy this book.

From the first page i was gripped. Skillfully interweaving three tales into one, Walker whisks the reader from prehistoric times to the battlefields of World War Two and then to modern day. Holding these three plots together is the story of a cave painting: the prehistoric plot gives the reader insight into the intricacies of a cave being painted, from the hierarchical battles to the struggles of producing satisfying art; the world war two story is centered around soldiers fighting in the dordoigne region of france, and their experiences whilst there; and the modern day tale is about an archaelogical find that has been stolen.
I am not an avid reader, yet i found myself glued to this book for several hours. Unable to tear myself away i read the whole thing in one sitting. Walker develops his characters with such skill that i began to feel as if i was right there living the adventures along with the characters.
Set in the perigord region, Walker uses his background as a historian to slyly give you a history lesson without you realizing what you have learned until, once having finished the book, you sit back in pleasure and mull over the story. Rarely have I enjoyed a book quite this much.