I read nearly half of Elizabeth Bard’s new
book, Picnic in Provence, on a flight from L.A. to New York. This
honest and often humorous account of becoming a mother and moving to a
small village in Provence is pure pleasure. I interrupted my husband from his book
several times to share a paragraph or two.
Bard bravely explores the difficult personal conflicts
that arise from cultural differences between herself and her French belle-mère. And between her newly French self and her American mother. Her description of
celebrating a Jewish holiday in France is enlightening and sobering.
“Five generations of my Russian peasant ancestors are
rolling over in their graves. Long did they toil, sweat, struggle, to escape
the shtetl. Hopeful, they passed through Ellis island to live the American
dream of a chicken in every pot and a dryer in every mudroom. And now one of
their progency is reduced (voluntarily no less) to hanging her washing on the
line of the garden. Oy.”
Elizabeth recounts experiences with idiosyncratic
French customs, a residue of Napoleonic France. The judge who approves baby names to ensure that parents don’t
give their children offensive or silly names that
might subject the child to ridicule.
She is encouraged to attend perineal
rééducation classes paid for by the state. She is admonished by a man on
the street, “Attention aux kilos” while snacking on a pain au chocolat between meals.
There are Delicious Recipes: Dark chocolate Mendiants topped with chopped nuts and dried fruits. (Mendiant chocolat is my favorite ice cream from Berthillon Paris.) Zucchini cream soup. Chicken livers salad. Broiled sea bass. Yellow lentil
puree (memories of last summer in Puglia). Tuna tartare.
Bard met Diane Johnson, doyenne of American expat writers and author of Le Divorce,
after the publication of Lunch in Paris, and her endorsement appears on the cover of her new book.
At a dinner party at Diane's home in Paris in 2009, I passed my phone around the table to share initial sketches for Paris-Chien, my first book. Diane's encouragement and story advice were incredibly helpful to me.
As good as Lunch in Paris was, Picnic in
Provence is even better!
