Three Rivers of France

by Freda White, Michael Busselle (Photographer)

This definitive work reveals the delights of the impressive region of south-west France, across which th e Dordogne, Lot and Tarn make their meandering way, and impa rts much information about the region''s wealth of prehistori c remains. '

Genres: France, Travel, History

207 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1984

Reviews

[Ad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book isn't actually by Michael Busselle. He took the (high quality) colour pictures for this edition and wrote the commentary on them. The author is in fact Freda White. The book was first published by Faber and Faber in 1952 (revised edition 1972) and it is a classic of travel writing, well-written, erudite (but wearing its learning lightly) and based on a wide knowledge of and deep affection for her subject. It might plausibly be argued that it is to the Brits' post-World War II discovery of la France profonde what Lizzie David is to the post-war discovery of French (and Italian and Mediterranean) cuisine. What she would have made of the subsequent invasion of "the Dordogne" I hate to think - although she does make occasional reference to the châteaux des Anglais, whose ruins are still dotted around the countryside as a reminder those who live there of a previous occupation of the region by "les goddons".

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Dordogne is a romantic river. The Lot is a magical river. The Tarn is a breath-taking river. Oh, happy Traveller, you have the choice of three."

[Lindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm soon to be embarking on a three-week trip on foot through the Dordogne river valley, walking from village to village with a small backpack. This book, first published in 1952, was recommended as additional reading on the area by several modern travel guides. I'm very glad that I sought out a copy at the University of Alberta.

White writes about the geology, architecture, social and political history of southwest France with obvious love for her topic and in an engaging, accessible manner. It is the ancient history, the formation of the limestone causses and river valleys and the settlements there by successive peoples that interested me in particular.

Advice for the modern traveller is outdated, naturally. I was amused to read that I could expect my meals at a farm-hotel to be cooked in an iron pot over a fire. In summer "remember that arms and legs rashly exposed to the sun can give you fever, and that rayon does not protect the skin from actinic rays." Since it is April, very early in the season to be walking, I will be grateful for sunshine rather than rain.

This passage also caught my fancy: "It is fun to buy books in France; not because the shops are well stocked, for they are not. [...] But the bookshops are staffed by people in whom even the over-bookish education of France has not killed the taste for reading. It is only in France and Scotland that it has been my experience to be refused a book on the ground that it was not worth buying, though it stood on the bookshop shelf."

I'm only taking one book with me, Ali Smith's The Reader, and may therefore have occasion to test the services of a French bookshop.