Francophiles discussion

Hi. Bonjour. I have just published my second novel and, since it is set in Provence, I thought you might like to know about it? It's a character-driven mystery which revolves around an embittered, reclusive portrait painter and the officious young curator employed to organise his retrospective. She’s going to make life uncomfortable for him; she’s going to have to dig deep to get to the truth. And maybe that’s not a wise place to go…
Silent Faces, Painted Ghosts is available for kindle and in paperback. Thanks for taking a look. :)

Hi Kathy, Thought this group was defunct! Glad to see there's someone else here.

Really enjoyed reading your book. It touched all the right buttons for me; France, art, and a mystery.

Carol wrote: "Really enjoyed reading your book. It touched all the right buttons for me; France, art, and a mystery."
Hi Carol. We are a pretty quiet group, aren't we?
Thanks for taking a chance on Silent Faces. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. I love Provence and, given the artistic history of the place, it felt like the obvious place to set the story. My husband was happy too: it gave us an excuse to research there...!

I don't know Provence all that well, but I thought you wrote with a strong sense of enjoyment and appreciation of it. We always used to visit Arcachon in the South west on holiday. My children did nearly all their higher education in France and Belgium,(13 years in total!) and I always intended to live there, but my husband has never wanted to, and now doesn't travel anywhere for health reasons.
Are you resting on your laurels now with the publication of Silent faces..., or are you already thinking about the next one?
Don't forget the Wag of W. on Radio Devon. (I have awful taste in music!) He always mentions whatever you send in.

Carol wrote: "I don't know Provence all that well, but I thought you wrote with a strong sense of enjoyment and appreciation of it. We always used to visit Arcachon in the South west on holiday. My children did ..."
I don't know the south west at all though I have visited many others areas of France and have enjoyed all my trips. I'm guessing you know the country much better than I, however, if your children went to school there. And you've lived in Belgium too? I have never been there...yet.
No, there is no resting on laurels here! I take ages to write, rewrite and then mould my novels so I've already started on the next one. It's been semi planned out and in my mind for a while so it's a matter now of putting the time in...
And I haven't forgotten any of your valuable advice re promotion! I am really not good at it but you've given me some good ideas. :)

Hi Kathy. I'm also not very good at promotion, but I try and be imaginative. It's not easy.I have put your book on the Happily Ever After Cafe bookshelf, which is a lovely group, and where I met Susanna the other day, but then it seemed to disappear. Will check again today! Hopefully you will get some American sales.
No, I've not lived in Belgium or France. Daughter has lived there for 17 years. And also no, my children didn't go to school in France, they just did their higher education there. Son did a maitrise, DEA and Doctorate in Chemistry at Jussieu( the science equivalent of the Sorbonne), and Daughter did a DEUG, Maitrise and DEA at Strasbourg, and then a Doctorate in Chemistry at Liege Uni. in Belgium.
Apart from your story, I also really liked the cover design, and the printing. It's very professionally done.

Carol wrote: "Hi Kathy. I'm also not very good at promotion, but I try and be imaginative. It's not easy.I have put your book on the Happily Ever After Cafe bookshelf, which is a lovely group, and where I met Su..."
I confess I've never heard of the Happily Ever After Café. Bless you for that and I'll check it out. I really appreciate your help and support.
Sorry I misunderstood (should read more carefully!) about your children's education. That must have been a great experience for them. They are clearly both scientifically minded and very able! Chemistry was my worst subject at school and I admire anyone who can understand it.
Thanks for the comments on the book. I asked my designer for a scene of an olive grove and a feeling of heat and he came up trumps! As for the interior design and formatting, well it's been a steep learning curve this year but these are useful skills.

Hi Carol. I've seen that group you mentioned (great name) and SFPG seems to be there now. Many thanks again.

Your new book looks very interesting and I really would like to know more about Provence. Thanks for sharing!

Mari wrote: "Your new book looks very interesting and I really would like to know more about Provence. Thanks for sharing!"
Hi Mari. Sorry I have only just seen your post. Clearly not very observant! Thank you.
You may be interested to look at a new page I've put on my website: http://www.kathyshuker.co.uk/Underpai.... It contains some info about Provence and other things, written as a background to the book really but it does have some nice photos of Provence too!

I think this group became "defunct" when it was over-run by authors promoting their books about France.
For the majority of us, we enjoy hearing about these 'bon-bon' books (guilty pleasures), but more
conversation and less "shilling" would enhance our interest/passion with la belle France.

I just finished "flirting with french" by William Alexander. Has anyone else read it? I really enjoyed that it brought language theory into the narrative- as an anthropology student in college I was quite taken with language theory.

Kathy wrote: "Mari wrote: "Your new book looks very interesting and I really would like to know more about Provence. Thanks for sharing!"
Hi Mari. Sorry I have only just seen your post. Clearly not very observan..."
Love the photos Kathy, and interesting info. about the region as well. Have a feeling that Princess Caroline of Monaco lives in St Remy.

We probably need to have a group read every so often to make the group more interesting and cohesive.

Carol wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Mari wrote: "Your new book looks very interesting and I really would like to know more about Provence. Thanks for sharing!"
Hi Mari. Sorry I have only just seen your post. Clearly not..."
Glad you enjoyed it, Carol. I didn't realise she lived there! Not an obvious place - but then what would I know?!

Carol wrote: "We probably need to have a group read every so often to make the group more interesting and cohesive."

That's a good idea.

Well, I expect there's a lot of famous people who live around there.

Montell wrote: "I just finished "flirting with french" by William Alexander. Has anyone else read it? I really enjoyed that it brought language theory into the narrative- as an anthropology student in college I wa..."
I read it and loved it. I recommended it to several friends . I also liked the way he brought in interesting information regarding language theory into the story, as well as his personal trials concerning his heart ailment. It was an all around great story.

Carol wrote: "We probably need to have a group read every so often to make the group more interesting and cohesive."
I agree. Who would decide on the book?

Debbie's our Moderator. We could suggest and she could choose. Or we could have suggestions and a poll.

Either way, I say we do it!

I'm up for it - as long as the timescale's not too tight. I'm already running behind on other book challenges!

Yes, always best to be quite a long time off. Also, I like to read a paperback, rather than on a kindle, which also restricts it a bit.

Hi everyone! I joined this site a short while ago and it was lovely this morning to find you all enjoying a chat and discussing your connections with France. My husband and I lived in La Charente, in the south west of France for three years and returned to Ireland a short while ago, after the death of my mother. We had the most wonderful time and if any of you are considering the move or just curious, I would be happy to answer your questions. You can also find out a lot of information wrapped up in our true story,'Bonjour Darling'published in October http://heatherfrancisauthor.weebly.com/ I hope the group remains active and when I am not writing, I too would enjoy a group read!

Heather wrote: "Hi everyone! I joined this site a short while ago and it was lovely this morning to find you all enjoying a chat and discussing your connections with France. My husband and I lived in La Charente, ..."
Hi Heather! That must have been a great experience - have to admit to a bit of jealousy though it's not a region of France that I know. Look forward to chatting.

Kathy wrote: "Heather wrote: "Hi everyone! I joined this site a short while ago and it was lovely this morning to find you all enjoying a chat and discussing your connections with France. My husband and I lived ..."

Hi Kathy! Enjoyed hearing about your book. Provence is beautiful the perfect setting for your story. We had a wonderful adventure in France renovating an old presbytery at the heart of a little French village. It took us right to the centre of the community and led to many, funny and sometimes poignant encounters. Lovely to meet you, look forward to chatting in the future.