Ever since 1066 there has been a substantial French presence in London. It is now said to be the sixth most populous French city & this book illustrates, explains, & exposes how this came about over more than a 1000 years. Full of individual stories & overlooked details covering a common history, from William the Conqueror, via the Huguenots (e.g. David Garrick`s family), & the emigres of the French Revolution (such as the families of Joseph Bazelgette, Augustus Pugin & Isambard Brunel), & on to London, the capital of the Free French during WWII. It is also a guide book to those streets, museums, monuments, churches & art dedicated to the French of London. Voltaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Foch & dozens of others are all honoured by plaques or statues. Traces & stories of those escaping the French Revolution & the Commune are remembered. Talleyr&, Chateaubriand & Madame de Stael all lived in London during those turbulent years. ...

Carolyn Westbrook brings you her first-hand knowledge, acquired through years of combing French flea markets for unique treasures, of what makes a beautiful French interior. Designer & decorator Carolyn Westbrook`s love affair with all that is French inspired began long before she ever travelled to France. Growing up in the US, her Southern heritage was infused by French influences
- from the chic elegance of New Orleans to the romance of southern plantation houses. Subsequent travels to France filled her with a passion that has influenced her designs & interiors ever since & ` The French Inspired` has become her own signature style. Immerse yourself in her own beautiful plantation house, a sleek urban apartment or a classically elegant town house. Each home featured has its own distinctive style, but all are essentially ` French` in their inspiration, whether it comes from a distressed, gilded carved mirror, or a faded, frayed rug that exudes age in just the right places & could never be purchased from a department store. Carolyn Westbrook prides herself on these French-inspired interiors that are classic & timeless but never stuffy. These interiors are not about the latest trends, but meant to inspire longevity & a true romance with your own home. The French have mastered the art of this time-worn yet sophisticated style of living, & you too will fall in love with the colours, the textures & the inspiration that is truly French.
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Beyond the affluent centre of Paris & other French cities, in the deprived banlieues, a war is going on. This is the French Intifada, a guerrilla war between the French state & the former subjects of its Empire, for whom the mantra of `liberty, equality, fraternity` conceals a bitter history of domination, oppression, & brutality. This war began in the early 1800s, with Napoleon`s lust for martial adventure, strategic power & imperial preeminence, & led to the armed colonization of Algeria, Morocco & Tunisia, & decades of bloody conflict, all in the name of `civilization`. Here, against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, Andrew Hussey walks the front lines of this war
- from the Gare du Nord in Paris to the souks of Marrakesh & the mosques of Tangier
- to tell the strange & complex story of the relationship between secular, republican France & the Muslim world of North Africa. The result is a completely new portrait of an old nation. Combining a fascinating & compulsively readable mix of history, politics & literature with Hussey`s years of personal experience travelling across the Arab World, The French Intifada reveals the role played by the countries of the Magreb in shaping French history, & explores the challenge being mounted by today`s dispossessed heirs to the colonial project: a challenge that is angrily & violently staking a claim on France`s future.

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French gastronomy is renowned for its classic recipes passed from generation to generation. From Burgundy to the Auvergne, Provence, the Loire & the Pyrenees, traditional family cooking has always been at the heart of the French kitchen & lifestyle. With its delicious dishes & exquisite ingredients as diverse as the regions from which they come, heritage cooking & family values from provincial France have stood the test of time. In this book Michel Roux Jr, star of the BBC`s MASTERCHEF & owner of the two-Michelin star Le Gavroche in London, explores the heritage of his native French cuisine
- from the rustic to the haute. With classic recipes using delicious ingredients, Michel Roux Jr will help you bring provincial French cooking into your kitchen & helps you to recreate the `je ne sais quoi` that only French cuisine can embody.
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Charles Smithson, a respectable engaged man, meets Sarah Woodruff as she stands on the Cobb at Lyme Regis, staring out to sea. Charles falls in love, but Sarah is a digraced woman, & their romance will defy all the stifling conventions of the Victorian age. Widely acclaimed since publication, this is the best-love of John Fowles` novels. ...

Voted ` The Best Cookbook Ever` by The Observer Food Monthly, Richard Olney`s The French Menu Cookbook is a beautifully written celebration of French food & wine. Filled with inspirational seasonal menus, over 150 authentic recipes & evocative writing, this celebrated book conjures up the scents & scenes of Provence. A new, re-edited & checked, edition of the OFM`s ` Best Cookbook Ever`, 2010. Originally published in 1970, The French Menu Cookbook became an instant kitchen classic that redefined modern cooking. Written from Olney`s home in the hills of southern France, Olney takes the reader through spring, summer, autumn & winter with enlightening guidance on French wine, exquisite dishes, lucid instructions & inspired seasonal menus. The French Menu Cookbook

Includes:: 32 thoughtful menus
- from a simple Provencal lunch to an informal autumn dinner, an elegant winter supper & a festive meal for two. Each menu

Includes:: honest & enlightening explanations of how the French really cook & compelling descriptions of dishes & techniques. With lyrical writing & unsurpassed French recipes, Olney`s delightful book is a masterful resource that is a must for every home cook.




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Concise, convincing & exciting, this is Christopher Hibbert`s brilliant account of the events that shook eighteenth-century Europe to its foundation. With a mixture of lucid storytelling & fascinating detail, he charts the French Revolution from its beginnings at an impromptu meeting on an indoor tennis court at Versailles in 1789, right through to the `coup d`etat` that brought Napoleon to power ten years later. In the process he explains the drama & complexities of this epoch-making era in the compelling & accessible manner he has made his trademark. Writing in ” The Times”, Richard Holmes described the book as `A spectacular replay of epic action.. .` while ” The Good Book Guide” called it, ` Unquestionably the best popular history of the French Revolution`. ...

Michel Roux Jr`s delicious collection of French recipes for the modern home cook. Michel Roux Jr is one of the best-known & most loved French chefs in Britain. He runs the renowned two-Michelin star restaurant Le Gavroche in London, as well as a number of other restaurants, & has presented many popular food programmes on TV. In The French Revolution, Michel revisits the classic dishes from his traditional French upbringing, but takes a modern approach that adapts his favourite recipes to suit home cooks today who are looking for light, healthy & easy-to-make options. Gone are the very rich creamy sauces, heavy meat dishes & complicated cooking techniques, as Michel replaces these with recipes that delight the palate without threatening the waistline. For instance, a delicate pea tart with filo-like brik pastry, a new hollandaise sauce containig hardly any butter & lots of clever low-calorie dressings. Michel also features recipes that can be made in one pot for speed & convenience, such as the delicious Poulet Basquaise
- a fragrant, simple stew of chicken, peppers & spices. Other dishes can be put together from store cupboard ingredients for a quick mid-week supper
- such as Chickpea & harissa soup, to be served alongside one of his many simple salads, tempting vegetable dishes or speedy desserts. These are not restaurant dishes
- this is the food that Michel & his family cook & eat at home. In his beautiful new book, Michel brings the great cuisine of his native land into the 21st century
- truly a French food revolution!



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Beginning with a discussion of familiar images of the French Revolution, garnered from Dickens, Baroness Orczy, & Tolstoy, as well as the legends of let them eat cake, & tricolours, Doyle leads the reader to the realization that we are still living with developments & consequences of the French Revolution such as decimalization, & the whole ideology of human rights. Continuing with a brief survey of the old regime & how it collapsed, Doyle continues to ellucidate how the revolution happened: why did the revolutionaries quarrel with the king, the church & the rest of Europe, why this produced Terror, & finally how it accomplished rule by a general. The revolution destroyed the age-old cultural, institutional & social structures in France & beyond. This book looks at how the ancien regime became ancien as well as examining cases in which achievement failed to match ambition. Doyle explores the legacy of the revolution in the form of rationality in public affairs & responsible government, & finishes his examination of the revolution with a discussion as to why it has been so controversial.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, & enthusiasm to make interesting & challenging topics highly readable. ...

The fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 has become the commemorative symbol of the French Revolution. But this violent & random act was unrepresentative of the real work of the early revolution, which was taking place ten miles west of Paris, in Versailles. There, the nobles, clergy & commoners of France had just declared themselves a republic, toppling a rotten system of aristocratic privilege & altering the course of history forever. The Revolution was led not by angry mobs, but by the best & brightest of France`s growing bourgeoisie: young, educated, ambitious. Their aim was not to destroy, but to build a better state. In just three months they drew up a Declaration of the Rights of Man, which was to become the archetype of all subsequent Declarations worldwide, & they instituted a system of locally elected administration for France which still survives today. They were determined to create an entirely new system of government, based on rights, equality & the rule of law. In the first three years of the Revolution they went a long way toward doing so. Then came Robespierre, the Terror & unspeakable acts of barbarism. In a clear, dispassionate & fast-moving narrative, Ian Davidson shows how & why the Revolutionaries, in just five years, spiralled from the best of the Enlightenment to tyranny & the Terror. The book reminds us that the Revolution was both an inspiration of the finest principles of a new democracy & an awful warning of what can happen when idealism goes wrong. ...