His heart having first been captured by France in 1949 when, at the age of fifteen, he cycled alone and virtually penniless to catch the night boat to Dieppe, Michael de Larrabeiti relates with lyrical ease his journey through manhood, telling vivid, humorous, and often affecting tales of his adventures, of his passions, and of the extraordinary people he encountered. From the linguistically challenged teenage boy forcing down a Green Chartreuse when he actually wanted a peppermint cordial to the adult man usurped in a girlfriend's bed by a Yorkshire terrier named Pudding, French Leave will charm and enthral anyone with an interest in France, good food, wine, or high adventure.
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About the Author
Michael de Larrabeiti was, for some years, a regular contributor to the Sunday Times travel section and is the author of eleven previous books including Foxes' Oven, also published by Hale, and the classic Borrible Trilogy recently reissued. He is married with three grown-up daughters and lives with his wife in Oxfordshire.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fifty Year Love Affair,
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This review is from: French Leave: A Love Affair with France (Paperback)
French Leave is about Michael de Larrabeiti's love affair with France. He goes to France the first time at fifteen, by himself, from his home in England. He knows some school French, but it only gets him in trouble. Still, he returns time after time to France, and he tells stories of characters and adventures he has encountered over these fifty-odd years.
As easy-to-take as these short recollections are, there is something missing. There doesn't seem to be any thread to connect the memories, all those years. It seems that a love affair with France leaves no room for a true love affair with anyone else. Sure, de Larrabeiti has plenty of trysts with attractive French girls, but there is no relationship that makes it into the next chapter. And yet, the biographical notes on the book flap indicate that he is married and has three grown daughters. I wish he had included something about them. But overall, French Leave is very enjoyable, and the story de Larrabeiti tells of admiring a medieval French tapestry in Paris in the morning and Concorde-ing to New York the same day to see its twin tapestry in a small museum is worth the price of the book alone. The normally bicycle-riding de Larrabeiti is so thrilled with his rare splurge for art that he makes a point of striking up a conversation with an art teacher also viewing the tapestry so that he can brag about it. Perfectly understandable.
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