Books by Jean-Philippe Blondel
A Very French Christmas: The Greatest French Holiday Stories of All Time (Very Christmas, 2)
by Guy de Maupassant, Irene Nemirovsky, Alphonse Daudet, Anatole France, Jean-Philippe Blondel, Dominique Fabre
A continuation of the very popular Very Christmas Series, this collection brings together the best French Christmas stories of all time in an elegant and vibrant volume featuring classics by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, plus stories by the esteemed twentieth century author Irène Némirovsky and contemporary writers Dominique Fabre and Jean-Philippe Blondel. With a holiday spirit conveyed through sparkling Paris streets, opulent feasts, wandering orphans, kindly monks, homesick soldiers, oysters, ham, bonbons, flickering desire, and more than a little wine, this collection encapsulates Noël. This is Christmas à la française—delicious, intense and unexpected—proving that nobody does Christmas like the French.
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Exposed
"Art, love and longing, the French way. Blondel’s book ... is the genuine article: an emotionally taut portrayal of late-in-life, post-marriage drift."
―The New York Times Book Review
A French teacher on the verge of retirement is invited to a glittering opening that showcases the artwork of his former student, who has since become a celebrated painter. This unexpected encounter leads to the older man posing for his portrait. Possibly in the nude. Such personal exposure at close range entails a strange and troubling pact between artist and sitter that prompts both to reevaluate their lives. Blondel, author of the hugely popular novel The 6:41 to Paris, evokes an intimacy of dangerous intensity in a tale marked by profound nostalgia and a reckoning with the past that allows its two characters to move ahead into the future.
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The 6:41 to Paris
"A strong plot and a touching portrayal of how any of us might feel when unexpectedly confronted by the detritus of young love ... The 6:41 to Paris is a timely reminder that the past is always waiting to ambush us."The New York Times Sunday Book Review
"Perfectly written and a remarkably suspenseful read ... an absorbing, intriguing, insightful book for all readers."Library Journal (Starred review)
Cécile, a stylish forty-seven-year-old, has spent the weekend visiting her parents in a provincial town southeast of Paris. By early Monday morning, she's exhausted. These trips back home are always stressful and she settles into a train compartment with an empty seat beside her. But it's soon occupied by a man she instantly recognizes: Philippe Leduc, with whom she had a passionate affair that ended in her brutal humiliation thirty years ago. In the fraught hour and a half that ensues, their express train hurtles towards the French capital. Cécile and Philippe undertake their own face to face journeyIn silence? What could they possibly say to one another?with the reader gaining entrée to the most private of thoughts. This is a psychological thriller about past romance, with all its pain and promise.
Reading group guide is available from New Vessel Press.
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