In association with Amazon we bring you our favourite books about the region and guides to living in France. We make a handful of small change if you buy the books through our service all of which helps us provide this site free of charge. We try and review as many of the books as we can, but time is always limited. The English language literature about the Aude and the Languedoc in general is quite limited at the moment though more is coming onto the market as the density of expatriate writers increase and the fame of the Languedoc attracts more journalists and travel writers. We will also include interviews with some of the Languedoc based authors as the site grows. In the meantime enjoy what we offer, and if there are any books that we have missed let us know, we will happy publish reviews and comments on any book connected to the region or life in France. We will also review any book sent to us and list it in Books about the Aude and Languedoc.

Peter Shield
Impasse Francois Lenoir 7
11220 Ribaute
France

Enjoy Creative Writing
A weekly writing course to kickstart your creative writing. We meet every
Tuesday morning, at Montferrand (half way between Carcassonne and Toulouse).
New members always welcome. For details please call: Ione Harrison, 04 68 60 61 56 or email keith.harrison@wanadoo.fr

New Languedoc Books

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 Languedoc Books

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 vignerons. 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