New In the Library

Revenge and Regret by Catherine Mercer

On the 6th August, 1944, a strong force of German soldiers, supported by armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery attacked the 400 maquisards living in a large camp in the forest of Picaussel above the village of Lescales in the high Aude. After their successful routing of similar armed camps of resisters at Gileres and in the Vercors the German army and their Milice collaborator allies were expecting a bloody but successful operation that would destroy their foe. Two young men from Lescales, who were working with the Marquis were ambushed and killed as they scouted out the German advance. The rest of the large group, under the inspired leadership of Lucien Maury, the village school teacher, fought off the first attack and were resupplied by the RAF with munitions and arms. Under cover of night fall they slipped through the German lines taking their wounded and all their supplies. The confused and angry German forces then burnt the village of Lescales to its foundations as a warning to all those who supported the Resistance.

Catherine Mercer's Revenge and Regret is loosely based on this incredible story. Read More of this Review

New In the Library

Virgile's Vineyard -A Year in the Languedoc Wine Country by Patrick Moon.This is the first book from a new arrival in the Languedoc. After finishing his studies in French and History Patrick Moon entered the legal profession in London. He inherited at neglected house and olive grove in the St. Saturnin region and this book tells how a one year sabatical turned into a new life in the Midi. Structured into 12 monthly Chapters it unfolds the story of wine in the Languedoc through the ages and through the annual cycle of the Vigneron. Working with the small but enterprising Virgile Joly, a new start-up vigneron. Moon takes us from pruning through to the vendage, harvesting, and finally the actual production of the wine. Interspersed with this.. Read More of this review

Revolution and Environment in Southern France "Peasants, Lords, and Murder in the Corbieres 1780-1830 by Peter McPhee. At the break of day on the 12th November 1830 a Corbiere noble, Auguste Latrielle demanded that a contingent of gendarmes arrest a group of poor villagers from Villeseque who were illegally chopping wood from Latrielle's Gleon estate. In the ensuing confrontation one of the peasants was injured provoking the rest of the group to turn on Auguste and his son, Gonzague, and kill them both. Read More of this review