Ron and I are superfans of the the Bruno book series, which I've praised here several times. Bruno, as you Francophiles probably know, is the chief of police in a small town in the Périgord, as imagined by British author Martin Walker. The author was a journalist who now lives in the Dordogne, and in the series Bruno and his colorful cadre of friends offer up lessons in French. Along with an intriguing mystery, you’ll get a a good dose of France's history, a sprinkling of politics, a generous dollop of current French culture, and a soupçon of romance thrown in. And recipes!
Recently we escaped the Burgundy winter with a little trip to Florida, and imagine our surprise and delight when we were strolling down a street in Sarasota and saw this sign in front of a of independent bookstore:
It was happening the very next day! So at quarter to three we had parked ourselves in the front row, eager for the “chat”. Sitting to my right was a couple who were such big fans that they had booked a gîte in the town where Walker lives, for a week. “We actually met 'Bruno' at the Saturday market!” the wife told me (Bruno is based on the local policeman, named Pierriot). The woman on the other side of us was so enamored with Walker’s books that she’s been “stalking” the author, she told us. As the clock turned three, she said excitedly, “I wonder if he’ll be very late, like a rock star?”
Msr. Walker was every bit as fascinating a speaker as he is a writer. His enthusiam for life in the Perigord was so infectious that Ron and I were painfully missing our own home in France before his talk had ended.
The Walker family's life in the country sounds idyllic. He gathers grapes with his neighbors, and truffles to perfume his cooking. He makes his own vin de noix (walnut wine) as we do in La Bourgogne. His favorite dish is Boeuf Bourguignon, but he makes it with the local Bergerac wine so he has renamed it Boeuf Périgordain (sorry to reveal this, my fellow Burgundians, I know it's a travesty). His secret ingredient is a generous final splash of his own Vin de Noix. He has 30 chickens, so he gives away lots of eggs. In return, a side of wild boar , or a leg of lamb, shows up on his doorstep, or a mess of trout caught that very morning, or a case of wine. The area is poor, but bartering saves the day.
The author said that “There is a traditional German saying that the sum of all happiness is 'to live like God in France.' So we like to say in this region, 'And when God takes a vacation, he come to the Périgord!' ".
He and his wife Julia have written a Bruno cookbook which is only published in Germany (his best market), but is a bestseller there, and in fact received an award for the best French cookbook. But American publishers won’t take it on. His publisher told him: to get a cookbook published in America you must either be an international star chef, have a cooking show, or look like like Nigella Lawson. Which, he said, let’s him out.
One of his cooking tips: if you have to have a scrumptious truffle on hand, put it in a sealed bag with your eggs. It will perfume your omelette. He also puts thin slivers of truffle between a wheel of brie sliced lengthwise, and lets it sit for a few days.
Walker was promoting his latest book, A Taste of Vengence. Don't despair if you're in Bruno withdrawal, the next one will be out in June: The Body in the Castle Well. The Château des Milandes, the former home of famous jazz singer Josephine Baker, figures into the plot (above, the UK cover at the left, US cover on the right. Which do you prefer?).
Walker touched on the Gilets Jaune, which he sees as the French version of the populism that is sweeping the western world, mostly due to economic disparity and ecomonic revolution caused by technology and other factors (see Brexit, Trumpism, etc).
Monsieur Walker closed with advice to would be writers: write every day, and record the little things, for later use: a description of an interesting person, or a great meal, for example. And “read the collected letters of Hemingway to F. Scott Fitzgerald,” he said,in which Hemingway advised that writers should always stop writing for the day, not at the end of a chapter or paragraph, or even a sentence! The theory is, It’s easier to pick it up that way, the next day. And so in my next post….
Of course I asked for a photo! And he kindly obliged:
The US cover of his latest book, which came out at the end of last year:
In the Comments: Merci beaucoup for all your kind comments on the house. Bonnie, your comment really made us laugh--we do wonder what we're doing some days! Maybe it's too early--we'll see.
