At Home in the Pays d’Oc made me giggle, and I was delighted to experience more divine comedy in a bundle of short stories. Do you fancy a tipple of laughter? I can thoroughly recommend ‘Tales from the Pays d’Oc’ – what a treat!
Patricia’s Tales from the Pays d’Oc are tasty morsels of France spiced with other cultures. I peeped into the worlds of Morbignan and St Remy les Cevennes via Patricia’s giggling goggles and it appealed to my nosy nature. How I enjoyed the ‘babble of accents’ from: French, Dutch, German, Swedish and English inhabitants. The ‘gossip fest’ tempted me throughout the stories. Amusing and poignant observations are thrown in for good measure. For instance, I learned that ‘serious drinking won’t begin for an hour’ at ten o’clock.
Oh, how I waited impatiently, in the café, for the news. Who was dead? What happened? I even found myself adding details and was taught a naughty lesson. Gossip was the only temptation to move me away from the market. I drooled as ‘the fruit stalls spilled a cornucopia of cherries and strawberries and peaches, their scents voluptuous and enticing in the heat.’
I may have also been tempted by the character of Karl who is personified by the ‘big, butch vehicle’. Hilarious! Alas, we owned one of those ‘high – falutin’ ‘Bland Rovers’, so he may not have approved. The ending of the story made me laugh and laugh. Patricia blends the humour so skilfully that I am in awe – again!
Armageddon Falls carried me along the flow of the narrative. The author is skilled at building simple details of the characters, hinting at conflict and absorbing the reader in the dialogue. She manages to demonstrate how people would bemuse the French inhabitants. I felt certain the author would teach the Americans a lesson. How can an artist declare, ‘when you’ve seen one vine, you’ve seen them all’?
All the characters are vibrant, and I love the way the style of each story reflects the personalities. Sheer genius in every single morsel of these bite size temptations. The enigma of the ‘boy in the pool’ is beautifully conveyed. Who is he? The mystery of the summer visitor combined with the mystery of the boy in the pool is brilliant.
The dog named ‘Useless’ who becomes a Greek goddess is great. I loved this dog! Moreover, I wanted to eat the truffle omelette on my snow-covered patio. Indeed, animals are also wonderful, intelligent characters in the collection of stories.
Let’s not forget the eccentric French characters who throw themselves into: truffle hunting, boar hunting, village fetes, food, parties’ wine and, of course, amorous liaisons. French culture is explored, dissected and presented on a plate. The villagers are stubborn and reluctant to change but sometimes surprise you. There are amusing, everyday incidents, but as you weave in and out of the characters’ lives, you get to meet them several times. The ‘good ol’ boys’ are a constant presence throughout the stories. Sitting on the bench they have their measure of the place, but don’t expect to gossip with this crowd if you are ‘anglais’ like Henry or even a Parisienne. You could listen to Josephine, the town crier, and find out how she is taught a lesson. Perhaps you’d like to join the Saturday Club to discover why the ‘swing doors flung open, and on a roar of “Ou est -il donc?”’ Has Kiki been up to his ‘old tricks’ or are you in the middle of a western? Beware of the raging woodman! Admire, the author’s wonderful turn of phrase and stand back when Paulette grabs ‘a fistful of blonde hair with a struggling, protesting eighteen-year-old attached.’ Discover how Patricia manages to rub a little salt into the wounded pride of the various characters. No one escapes her witty observation.
Morsels of Morbignan are ‘tres amusant’. Each story made me declare: ‘Ah, or ‘Je vois’ or ‘oh la la’. The author transported me over the English Channel and made me think in schoolgirl French (minus the accents). Desperate for the denouement of each tale, I burnt a stew, but it was an excuse to open a bottle of French wine. These stories would make a perfect Sunday evening TV series.
Cheers, Patricia! I can’t wait for more tempting morsels.
About Patricia
Patricia Feinberg Stoner began her career as a graduate trainee with the Liverpool Daily Post.
Quickly discovering she was a terrible reporter, she switched to feature writing and since then her career has revolved around the written word, as a journalist, advertising copywriter and publicist. For many years she was international press officer for Granada Television, leaving to set up her own publicity business, The Good Word.
Once a dyed-in-the-wool Londoner, Patricia now lives in West Sussex with her husband Patrick, also a writer. She is a member of CHINDI independent authors.
Her first book, ‘Paw Prints in the Butter’, is a collection of humorous verse about cats, sold in aid of WADARS, a local animal rescue charity. She followed this with ‘At Home in the Pays d’Oc’ which, she says, is the story of two accidental expatriates in the south of France. The book won a Five Star Book Award from One Stop Fiction.
November 2017 saw the publication of Patricia’s third book – ‘The Little Book of Rude Limericks’. Despite the title, she warns that not all of the limericks in the book are rude: in fact, some are perfectly polite. However, there are exceptions.
Her latest book revisits the Languedoc with a collection of short stories: ‘Tales from the Pays d’Oc‘. In its pages you will discover what Matthieu was doing in the olive tree, who stole the Indian prawn and who rescued two hapless Americans at Armageddon Falls.
Please see all my reviews at Books In Handbag and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.
