Ted Morgan was a giant and he just died on December 13, at 91, after four years of illness, in a retirement home in New York. His wife Eileen Bresnahan and his daughter Amber were angels with him to the end. His son Gabriel is also a writer in New Mexico. A Pulitzer Prize winner, he wrote twenty books mostly … Read More
Prosper Mérimée, a multi faceted talent in Compiègne
Prosper Mérimée is best known around the world for the two operas “Carmen” by Georges Bizet (1875) and “La Périchole” by Jacques Offenbach (1868) which were based on the short stories he wrote. La “Périchole” was called “Le Carrosse du Saint Sacrement” and took place in Peru. “Carmen” is set in Andalusia, Spain, where he loved to go and where … Read More
Musée Hergé in Ottignies, at last!
Since I heard, that Christian de Portzamparc was the architect for this new Hergé museum built in 2009 in Ottignies/Louvain la Neuve, Belgium, I had wanted to visit it. And the occasion was given to me by a wonderful Franco-Belgium wedding nearby and my stay at Villa Monceau, a small family hotel five minutes away. It took us three hours from … Read More
Books, books, books, to read and to give
I had read only one book of short stories by Nina de Gramont, my talented American cousin, “Of Cats and Men” published in 2001. She has since published six more books and her latest one, “The Christie Affair” was for a long time on the New York Times best seller’s list and is translated into twenty languages. It is a … Read More
Villers Cotterêts, the new citadel of the French language, is open
I was totally excited to finally get to Villers Cotterêts after a series of mini disasters (the opening visit was cancelled) and an hour and a quarter of driving from Paris. The small town of 10 000 inhabitants, is pretty dreary and the castle which houses the new Cité Internationale de la Langue française stands out like a meringue among … Read More
A spectacular exhibition in Chantilly … in 2025
The rain was drizzling on Maison de Sylvie in Chantilly but the atmosphere was electrical when Mathieu Deldicque, director of Musée Condé, and Marie Pierre Dion in charge of the rare books, announced that the “Mona Lisa of Manuscripts” Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, would be (partly) exhibited for three months in June-October 2025. The last time … Read More
A book on Fashion in the paintings of the Louvre, what a great idea!
I met Sabine de la Rochefoucauld years ago when she was the VIP guide at Versailles, and Harold Pinter and Antonia Fraser who was writing on Marie Antoinette, raved about her. She has now been for many years at the Louvre as chief of Protocol for royalties and stars, but still organizes visits for normal people. One of her cherished … Read More
Claire Bretécher, Prix Émile Perreau Saussine, Journée des Plantes in Chantilly and a novel on worms…
The Autumn Journées des plantes in Chantilly were heavenly with perfect cool and sunny weather and newcomers such as Jean Marie Dheedene from the Clematis Foundation in Belgium. He develops new clematises which survive better the heat and need little watering and has classified them all according to the flowering period and the perfume. I visited Claire Le Meur who … Read More