La Vie: A year in rural France

Product Information

This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. In this book, he describes a year on his farm, the birdsong, the wildlife, the crops, the villagers and some of the nuances of French culture, all in his beguiling, poetic style.

La vie (Signed) - John Lewis-Stempel - The Bookery La vie (Signed) - John Lewis-Stempel - The Bookery

Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal.The rituals of rural France, whether queuing for a baguette or sipping a noisette (espresso with a ‘nut’ of milk) while watching the world go by, are effective barriers to the rush of modern times. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say, La Vie. But it’s his observation of the natural world – the sight, the sound, the smell of it – that is so memorable.

La Vie - Penguin Books UK

I seized upon this book, partly as an admirer of Lewis-Stempel's writing, and partly because I too have lived in rural France - though not in the Charente. Throughout the novel, he notes which birds are singing; and just occasionally, those brief times in the annual calendar when there is seemingly no birdsong at all. Bartering is commonplace and by Christmas Stempel has proveded over 50 per cent of the Christmas dinner from his own potager and used bartered goods for the rest.This book is a tribute to all the sheep he has reared and sheared - from gregarious Action Ram to sweet Maid Marion. His history of farming in England, Woodston, published in 2021, also became a Sunday Times bestseller.