Four French Holidays

Anne Hall was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Seattle, Washington. She studied English and French and while working on a doctoral degree in French literature she moved permanently to France. She has taught at the universities of Tours and Aix-en-Provence. Fifteen years ago, her research into the Du Mauriers’ French ancestry led her from Provence back to the Centre-Val de Loire region, where she is still living and writing. Also published by Unicorn The Du Mauriers Just as They Were and Angela Thirkell: A Writer’s Life.

"This is a very original literary study of the work of four British writers who, though still remembered today, are not as celebrated or read as much as they deserve to be. Through the prism of visits to France in the novels and stories of these writers, Anne Hall explores the delicate and subtle interplay of relations between those two nations in fiction. It is elegantly written, illuminating and informative. There is some fascinating original scholarship here, but, above all, Four French Holidays is highly entertaining and tempts you to go and read for yourself (if you haven’t already) or re-read the works under consideration." Reggie Oliver, nephew and biographer of Stella Gibbons