Description

From the coast of Normandy to the Cote d’Azur, along the banks of the Seine to the Alps – the ultimate literary tour of France.

‘Peter Fiennes’s brisk literary travelogue is witty and packed with gossip; it moves at the speed of a TGV, with the elegance of a Citroen DS.’ Sebastian Faulks

Travelling in a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris, Peter Fiennes explores France’s sense of its own people, place and identity through some of its greatest writers and artists. Moving between the centuries, from the Arthurian forests and Neolithic fields of Brittany to the banlieues of Paris, Fiennes follows the threads of history across France. And wonders what is next for this sublime, mysterious and sometimes fractious country.

Fiennes drinks with Sartre and de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre; follows Edith Wharton’s ‘Motor-Flight’ along the Loire Valley to the home of George Sand; and explores the beaches of the south with Colette and Katherine Mansfield. He lingers near Bordeaux with Francois Mauriac, strolls in the foothills of the Alps with John Berger and follows Colette to the trenches at Verdun, before finally heading to Paris, where he consigns Maupassant to an asylum and Sartre to his grave.

A paean to the glories of French literature, art, landscape, food and wine, En Route is a heartfelt exploration of where the country finds itself after so many centuries at the centre of European life.

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‘En Route is a tour de force.’ Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion House

‘What bliss to travel France in the company of such great writers – including Peter Fiennes, the wittiest companion anyone could hope for.’ Alex von Tunzelmann, author of Fallen Idols

‘Fascinating, funny and elegiac.’ Sofka Zinovieff, author of Eurydice Street

Publisher Review

'Peter Fiennes's brisk literary travelogue is witty and packed with gossip; it moves at the speed of a TGV, with the elegance of a Citroen DS.' -Sebastian Faulks 'A journey around France in the company of the great writers who have loved, quarrelled, soared and come to rest there. By turns playful and profound, En Route is a tour de force.' -Christopher de Bellaigue, author of The Lion House 'What bliss to travel France in the company of such great writers - including Peter Fiennes, the wittiest companion anyone could hope for.' -Alex von Tunzelmann, author of Fallen Idols 'A fascinating tour de France through the eyes of its some its finest writers - rich, enlightening and compelling.' -Felicity Cloake, author of One More Croissant for the Road 'Fascinating, funny and elegiac. This personal, affectionate yet irreverent tour of France in the footsteps of some of its greatest writers is sheer bliss. I'm still haunted by Sartre's lobster, Maupassant's syphilitic madness and Colette's daring in "tickling the libido" of Paris.' -Sofka Zinovieff, author of Eurydice Street 'En Route by Peter Fiennes is a masterful exploration of the lives of a dozen writers ranging from Simone de Beauvoir and Edith Wharton to Jean Paul Sartre and Guy de Maupassant as the author follows their literary trajectories through France. Fiennes seamlessly blends literary criticism with his own personal story as he meditates on art, literature, the changing landscapes of France and the formative power of place.' -Joanna Pocock, author of Surrender