Kate Mosse: La France profonde
1. Richard Coeur de Lion couldn't speak English and he barely set foot in England, that's the revelation that Kate Mosse brought to the Cheltenham Book Festival today. Richard was bilingual: in Langue d'Oil and Occitan. The language of Occitan is promoted much more in schools than it used to be.
2. The French buy French wine, cheese and bread. Kate attributes this to the years of shortage in Vichy France, when people in towns relied on local farmers to stave off hunger. In the older generation, she said, the gratitude lives on. The French prefer to do things in a French way which may not be the most efficient way.
3. The majority of Jews in France were rescued in the South of France. Kate has always been fascinated by the strong links between the land, its history and the people, which is portrayed in the Labyrinth trilogy. Le chemin de la liberte provided an escape route over the Ariege Pyrenees. The people of Launguedoc have a long history of subjection to authority and a refusal to comply.
4. Pretty villages in France have hardly changed. France is highly centralised but because of its sheer size it has a long history of independent local government. Kate feels French villages and towns have resisted economic change and redevelopment more effectively than the Brits. . However, some villages in the south of France have a larger population of ex-pat Brits than French people.
5. Winters are cold in Provence. Brits tend to forget about the Tramontane, the strong northerly wind that chills to the bone in winter. It's not all hot sun, it's hotter in summer and cooler in winter than Britain.
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