Mademoiselle Benoir

by Christine Conrad

Tim Reinhart enters a wondrous new world the moment he buys a farmhouse in the country of France, region of Quercy, department of Lot. Or, in his marvelous words, “From the moment I saw this property, I had a bead on it. I can’t completely explain why, but I had an intense feeling of belonging.” He has given up his teaching life in New York and begun working as the artist he’s always wanted to be.

Letters written to his family back home sweep the reader up in Tim’s schooling in, and awakening to, the pastoral French lifestyle. From the attention to food (meals seem to Tim a semireligious rite) to the delightfully quirky neighbors who appear to spring straight out of a Balzac novel, we share Tim’s ever-growing pleasures and adventures.

But his enchantment with this foreign land becomes far more complicated when his drawings—and then Tim himself—catch the eye of Mademoiselle Benoir, a beautiful, aristocratic woman twenty years his senior. Their decision to marry sets off a cluster bomb, uncovering incendiary layers of emotional and cultural complexity on both sides of the Atlantic, as his family tries to reason with him, her family declares war, and the villagers choose sides. Will tradition triumph over love?

Inspired by a true story, this is a delicious stew with something for everyone.

Christine Conrad has worked as the New York City film commissioner, as an editor in book publishing, as a screenwriter for motion pictures and television, and as an advocate for women's health. Her most recent book, Jerome Robbins, is a pictorial biography inspired by her long friendship with the choreographer.

Genres: Fiction, France, Love, Novels

230 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2006

About the author

CHRISTINE CONRAD’s most recent published work is "Watermill Revisited,"a revealing and fascinating meditation on her relationship with Jerome Robbins and his ballet Watermill. It follow her novel “Mademoiselle Benoir” from Houghton Mifflin. Inspired by a true story and written in epistolary form, it received excellent reviews. It was preceded by her pictorial biography “Jerome Robbins: That Broadway Man, That Ballet Man,” based on her long relationship with the renowned choreographer. Ms. Conrad began working full-time as a writer for film and television in the early 1980’s after moving to Los Angeles. She is well-known for originating the screenplay of “Junior” which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Raised in NYC, she worked there in theatre; as an editor in book publishing; and as New York City film commissioner.
Her own serious illness in the mid-1990’s galvanized her to become an advocate for women’s health, and she wrote two books, “Natural Woman, Natural Menopause,” and “A Woman’s Guide to Natural Hormones.” Through her non-profit foundation www.naturalwoman.org she continues to provide women with doctor referrals for bio-identical hormones and has helped thousands of women get life-changing treatment.
Eclecticism, as it turns out, has always defined her working life, and she is currently working on a number of different projects:
A novel set in France, Two Sisters;
A novel, Sonny, Royal Dog;
A short story collection.
After her story, "Ties That Bind," read by Kathleen Turner,was accepted for a BBC broadcast, she was inspired to put together a collection, never having worked in this form before.
"Under My Skin," read by Calista Flockhart, a second short story for the BBC debuted on March 16, 2012.

Reviews

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Except for the initial fumble with the fact that the novel was set in 1998, when there was supposed to be the Internet already and I wondered why they still wrote letters to each other -- but which later on I found to be believable if they were a very cultured, letter-writing family and the character Tim Reinhart was writing from a very very remote village in Southwestern rural France, when there couldn't have been good dial-up networking then -- I found the novel deep in its understanding of human character and the ways of relationships.

I also liked the epistolary style as it draws the reader in to the story as if they were part of it, peeking into the letters the characters wrote to each other, thus creating an intimate, private mood between the reader and the story.

[Rachel Romeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listed this as romance but it's much more than that. Set in the countryside of France, this book takes you on a journey through the eyes of a New York City ex-pat who runs away from his math professorship to follow his dream of being a painter. The entire book is told by reading the series of letters written by/to Tim (the ex-pat), his parents, his sister, his friend and the love he finds in France and takes you on a wonderful trip through his own self discovery and what he's learned along the way about friendship, family and love. A great short read made easy to fall in love with. One you will remember long after you've put it down.

[Deon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mademoiselle Benoir by Christine Conrad is a little gem of a book about a math professor from New York who moves to France and buys a remote dilapidated farmhouse. The book is in the form of letters. Tim’s parents are worried about him living in such a remote location and giving up teaching for art. Tim starts to settle in, meets people in the village, and makes friends with an older aristocratic woman, Catherine Benoir. As their friendship deepens and turns to passion, Catherine’s sister Pauline goes right off the rails. Her attempts to stop them are wickedly determined. I wonder why it is considered fine for a man in his mid 50’s to marry a woman in her 30’s or younger, while it is NOT okay for the woman to be the older party? Seems strange to me. It seemed strange to Tim too.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a SWEET book! A novel ritten totally in letters tells of a 40-ish man's move to France to paint and live in a rural village. You learn of the complicated social web of family life while watching him trust his way into a friendship with a beautiful French woman who is 20 years older. They fall in love in a moment and it takes a lot of patience to deal with the red tape wrapped around their plans to marry. Loved it!!

[Karen C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't want this one to end. Lovely.

[Bibiana Rosalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book definitely has you cheering at the end. Love conquers all! :)

[Adriene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very charming novel! The characters had great voice, just enough drama to keep it interesting, a lovely atypical romance and a setting one can just imagine~!

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

short and sweet...makes me wonder why I'm moving to NYC instead of France :)

[Brenna Bonner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is perfect!

[Rachelle Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty great, enough to read twice! Always has been a dream if mine to leave everything behind and do something completely new.

[Cissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story! If you like a book written as a series of letters back-and-forth to characters, then you’ll enjoy this format. very light reading takes place in the south of France and an interesting approach to understanding the French way of life. No heavy content or over politicized type approach just a story about a young man who becomes an artist and falls in love.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful little book. A story of a true love told by way of letters between the lovers as well as other family members. The descriptions in the book provide vivid images of the countryside and the buildings there. The people seem real, even the annoying ones.

[Catherine Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I have read by Christine Conrad. A great book. Hope to read others by her.

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute French book of a gentleman moving to France but not expecting love and finding it.

[Melanie Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply enchanting! Left me wanting to read more

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok...did love that it was letters, so easy to read a few minutes here and there

[Craig Masten · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being seduced by acquisition of a smart phone, I have returned to reading. From a long neglected stack of books I first picked up a short novel I thought was titled Mademoiselle Renoir. Because I am an artist,iI especially enjoy historical fiction about famous painters. However, because of a particularly ornate calligraphy of the title, the book was actually about a Mademoiselle Benoir, not Renoir.
Initially disappointed, i nevertheless determined to try this short little volume.

I'm glad I did. My second surprise was that it was An epistolary novel, one of the few I've ever attempted. The story unfolded in a series of letters between the various characters involving a man beginning a new life as an artist in a rural area of central France. He meets and falls in love with a much older French women.

The resulting complications and scandal to his and her family and friends, as well as meditations on the meaning of what makes for a well lived life provides a delightful unfolding of the plot. Having once had a lovely relationship with a relatively more experienced Frenchwoman myself, I can say with some small experience that the author engagingly captured the culture and character of the French. Recommended highly as an intimate look into the interaction and eventual intermingling of very different people.

[cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel takes place in Southern France and that is perhaps my favorite thing about this book. The sense of place is exquis et magnifique. J'adore le sud du France. However, when I started reading the novel, I thought that it was a little unbelievable that the letters would actually be written in such a manner. I had to think: was letter writing the most effective way to write this story? Et puis, the readers experience practically no courtship between Tim and Catherine. They are all of a sudden in love after a summary of afternoons spent together. Forget the summary- je veux the details- I wanted to see more of it. Although with that said, I was constantly drawn to the book to see what would happen next. Au cause de touts les choses francais! Maybe the letters were effective... je ne sais pas. Alors, I loved the character, Tim, but I was disappointed that we never really get to know Catherine. All in all, it was a good read and I may move back to Southern France sooner than planned.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main character is a 30ish Harvard-educated mathematician who trades in his academic career to live on a farm in rural France to pursue a career in art. The book is told in letter format, much like Charing Cross Road. He ends up falling in love with a much-older French woman (who is also an artist), sending her family into an uproar.

On the whole, I liked the book and learned a little bit about French culture. However, I was truly amazed at some of the things this guy told his mother about his sex life and his relationship with his girlfriend who he was seeing at the time. He must be really, really close to his mom. I was also a little surprised that in this day and age that all communication was done by snail-mail, and not email or phone calls. Although, I do think people should write more snail mail letters.

It is a fun, quick read about searching for true love.

[Mbhatia · Rating 1 out of 5]

unlikely cougar story about a 60 year old woman who marries a much younger man in France. Unbelievably, in the modern world of email and telephone, the man writes letters daily to his parents. I found the book contrived and outdated, even though it was published in 2006. although it was presumably in the person of the male character, it was obvious that it was written by a woman and presumably an out-dated woman at that.

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

The epistolary novel doesn't work for me. As another reader said, it's unbelievable that he would write letters like that to his mother (yes, let's scoot over the fact that they're letters not e-mails; she did set it in 1998 and we were all e-mailing each other by then, but our parents may not have been). I'd go further and say that she doesn't know how to write like a man; all his letters sound like they were written by a woman. I wouldn't bother.

[Robin (Saturndoo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the epistolary style,which I like, this book was quite interesting. Although Tim was a rather likeable character, I was a little shocked by the things he wrote to his mother about his sex life. Overall, there's not a lot to say about this book besides it's a quick romantic read about finding true love with a little bit of the French culture thrown in for good measure ☺

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet little book. Charming, fun, again takes you away to Paris.

[Jeannette Varkal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful book of the experiences of an American who bought an old house in a village in the south of France and his life and experiences there.

[Beth Caruso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful trip to France. Beautifully written.

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful epistolary novel about an unconventional love between a 30-something former NYC math professor and a 60-something French spinster.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read that offers a charming, if implausible tale of romance in contemporary France.

[Lu]

rural France, love affair from letters

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short book. Quick read. Not impressed.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok...did love that it was letters, so easy to read a few minutes here and there