Book: Complètement cramé!

A moment I’ve been waiting for! You present a book by one of my favorite authors, Gilles Legardinier. And if I’m taking advantage of doing it now, and specifically this book, it’s because a film adaptation was made of this story. So I will talk to you about the book today and the film next Monday (you can imagine that I went to see it when it came out!!). Unluckily, I didn’t find yet the english version of this novel. If you found it, please, notify me!

Quickly, I can’t wait to tell you more!

Summary: Andrew Blake is no longer young, elected best entrepreneur of the year in London in spite of himself, his wife passed away and their daughter living abroad, he has no longer the taste for anything . He decides to go to France, his wife’s native country, to a mansion lost in the countryside. There he meets Odile, the cook with the sharp eye, Manon, the part-time student, Philippe, the somewhat boorish forest ranger and Mme Beauvillier, mistress of the house but who very rarely sets foot in outside the walls of her room. Andrew was looking for a place of retirement, he found himself involved in this sinking manor and the special life of its inhabitants.

Book read, reread and read again. Of the Feel Good genre, this book is a nugget of humanity. I laughed until I cried and those to whom I proposed it almost couldn’t breathe between two laughs. On the other hand, a little advice, if you are just discovering this author, do not start with that one. Despite himself, his other novels are a little less funny. But only a little less… We’ll come back to that later.

Regarding the story, the characters are funny and endearing, Andrew Blake is a person with whom I would really like to chat over lunch to learn from his experience. Funny, a bit philosophical and his questions about some expressions of the French language assure me that it would be a perfect meal in perfect company. What more?

Don’t be asked! Take this English cookie sprinkled with French.