Summer France prequel Bunny ebook
I am such a huge fan of this author having already read the sequel to this book the hilarious memoir Bunny on a Bike and her fabulous psychological thriller My Grandfather's Eyes.
In this prequel to Bunny on a Bike we read the memoir of Bev as she and her best friend Carol manage to wrangle a grant from their university to take an educational (errm!) trip to France one summer.
I simply galloped through this book it was so engaging, hilarious and nostalgic, all in perfect measure. Bev has such a skill for writing and recounting the many things that those of us of a certain age will certainly relate to. It harps back to the days when sun protection was a bottle of vegetable oil with patchouli oil in it and a balanced diet meant adding jam to your ambrosia rice pudding. It reminds me of my youth, although I'm not over the hill just yet! When naivety, charm and in Carol's case outright honesty were all forgiven when you flashed a goofy smile.
I can't recommend this book highly enough for a feel good, funny read written by a very talented writer.
The I Ching calls it 'Youthful Folly', but I delighted in this entertaining account of a long hot summer in France, half a lifetime ago. Moped rides to buy cheap Port, food poisoning, and frolicking in the Med wearing nothing but lipstick may not have been the precise details of my youthful folly, but they brought every glorious detail back to me just as surely as Proust's Madeleine.
BalasHapus`One Summer in France' is one of those books of reminiscence that rewards the reader on so many counts. It comes across like a novel but is obviously an accurate first-hand recollection as well. It was written recently as a prequel to the very successful `Bunny on a Bike' but avoids the mistake of applying mature `wisdom' to the experiences of just post-teen years. It is, as a result, modern, funny, occasionally outrageous, atmospheric, nicely descriptive and very fast-moving. We travel with Bev as she obtains a grant to fund a trip to France as part of her university degree and, accompanied by her friend Carol, takes up residence at a camp site on the French Mediterranean coast near the Spanish border. Bev is undoubtedly very pretty - you don't graduate and end up working for the Bunny Club otherwise - and in no time she and Carol are having a string of hilarious adventures as they find their feet in the campsites, bars and beaches of southern France, fighting off men, dealing with their jealous partners and struggling with rented mopeds. Their visits to the nudist beach or over the border in pursuit of Salvador Dali are absolutely hilarious. But Bev Spicer is a highly intelligent observer of the human condition who does not exclude herself from her ironic and anatomical eye. The consequence is a story that I simply couldn't put down - it's a 'Laugh Out Loud' book with pure nostalgia lightly laid on the narrative and it is so very well written! I'm glad I read `One Summer in France' first. It will be a pleasure to take the story further in `Bunny on a Bike'.
BalasHapusRoderick Craig Low. Author of a number of books including, `Rewards and Dilemmas'.
I am such a huge fan of this author having already read the sequel to this book the hilarious memoir Bunny on a Bike and her fabulous psychological thriller My Grandfather's Eyes.
BalasHapusIn this prequel to Bunny on a Bike we read the memoir of Bev as she and her best friend Carol manage to wrangle a grant from their university to take an educational (errm!) trip to France one summer.
I simply galloped through this book it was so engaging, hilarious and nostalgic, all in perfect measure. Bev has such a skill for writing and recounting the many things that those of us of a certain age will certainly relate to. It harps back to the days when sun protection was a bottle of vegetable oil with patchouli oil in it and a balanced diet meant adding jam to your ambrosia rice pudding. It reminds me of my youth, although I'm not over the hill just yet! When naivety, charm and in Carol's case outright honesty were all forgiven when you flashed a goofy smile.
I can't recommend this book highly enough for a feel good, funny read written by a very talented writer.