Three reading recommendations: books about France in English

The Secrets of Sainte Madeleine

Tilly Bagshawe

HarperCollins, €9.67

ISBN: 978-0008521868

This sweeping family saga from best-selling novelist Tilly Bagshawe follows three generations of the Salignac family, the inhabitants of a chateau in Burgundy, from the glittering 1920s through World War Two and into the second half of the 20th Century. 

The chateau and the family's attachment to it drives much of the plot, which spans half a century packed with passion, betrayal, lies, lost opportunities, friendships, love, forgiveness and… winemaking, of course. 

This is a real page-turner and although the heroine isn't always likeable or even relatable, it does not stop the plot racing onwards, and it is impossible not to want to know what comes next. It all starts when the alcoholic father sells off the farms around the vineyard, much to the dismay of his three offspring. The eldest son turns out to be gay with a crush on the local priest, the middle son hops the Pond, and the youngest child, a daughter, leaves for the bright lights of Paris, where she married a rich Greek playboy. The marriage soon hits the rocks.

It all sounds a little implausible but then Tilly Bagshawe's life has also been unbelievable. At the age of 17, she took her infant daughter when she went to study at Cambridge University. Then, having enjoyed a successful career in the City, she became a journalist and a novelist. Her debut book, Adored, was a smash hit and she went on to write another nine bestsellers. She and her family divide their time between Kensington, Los Angeles and Nantucket Island.

Three Hours in Paris

Cara Black

Soho Crime, €13.52

ISBN: 978-1641290418

This audacious tale is based on the real fact that Hitler only went to Paris once after the invasion, in June 1940, but only stayed there for three hours. The novel is about a fictional American heroine, Kate Rees, who is sent to Paris to assassinate the Nazi leader. Obviously she fails, and then has to go on the run. But all the time, she is wondering whether or not she has been set up.

Kate has no formal training as a spy. Her main weapons are her searing grief for her husband and baby daughter, and her furious hatred for the regime responsible. She was dropped into Paris only because she is a shooting champion, an expert markswoman. For the next 36 hours in wartime Paris, she has to evade capture by the sinister Gunter Hoffman, the Nazi sleuth ordered to capture the would-be assassin, reach the northern coast, and escape to the UK. 

Very exciting, this novel builds a vivid picture of Paris in 1940 as the suspense builds. This is the first of two novels about Kate Rees, so you know from the start that she will somehow survive, but nevertheless this is heart-stopping stuff. Cliff-hangers abound, making the book a real page-turner. 

Cara Black has written many novels set in France, including 19 books set in Paris, about private investigator Aimée Leduc. So if you like this book, there is plenty more to read from the same author.

The Wounded Vine

Judi Hopkinson

3Sixty5 Publishing, €13.50

ISBN: 978-1067049706

This is Judi Hopkinson's promising debut novel, about a British librarian, Claire, who gives up her secure job and moves to Hérault where she works at the Domaine de Joubert, a winery run by the enigmatic Jean-Pierre. It becomes apparent that the Wounded Vine of the title is in fact, our heroine. 

Brave enough to make the leap over the Channel, she still finds it difficult to stand up for herself, particularly when her sister Jessica shows up at the vineyard.

This is a book about love and lies, discovering who you really are, and finding the courage to live authentically and be yourself. It is also a nice romance with a happy ending.

The author obviously knows Hérualt very well, and describes it evocatively. Reading this book is the next best thing to jumping into a French summer, complete with vines soaking up the sunshine while people try to work out who they are and what they really want. 

Elegantly written, it is gripping enough to keep the reader wanting more, and certainly to make people wonder what Judi Hopkinson will publish next?