Fool's Gold

by Jane S. Smith

A hilarious first novel about pagan sacrifice, plundered gold, the Tour de France, and the artistic uses of a Barbie An American family summering in an unexpectedly commercialized and traffic-choked Provence discover a cache of pagan gold and set in motion a comic adventure of mistaken identity and misplaced ambition. Eco-feminist art critic Vivian Hart is badly in need of a kick start to her career, and a change of scenery. Her husband Richard, a stock photographer, yearns to purify his art of the curse of prettiness. Their golden opportunity arrives in the form of a classified ad in the New York Review of Books : "Ideal sabbatical retreat in the south of France" The Harts sublet their Manhattan apartment and decamp for the French countryside without a second thought, only to find on their arrival - as have so many before them - that all that glitters is not gold. Fool's Gold is a savvy farce about pretension and greed, a tongue-in-cheek reply to anyone under the spell of sunny vineyards and colorful peasants, from Van Gogh to Peter Mayle. Jane S. Smith is the author of Patenting the Polio and the Salk Vaccine, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She served as a writer and consultant for the PBS polio documentary "A Paralyzing Fear," winner of the Erik Barnow Prize for Best Historical Film of 1998. She was also author of the companion volume, A Paralyzing Fear , published that same year. She is also the author of Elsie De A Life in the High Style , nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle Award. She lives in Evanston, Illinois, and teaches at Northwestern University. Fool's Gold is her first novel. This tart and very funny first novel gives the finger to Peter Mayle's obnoxiously smug books about living the good life in Provence. An entertaining satire on artistic pretensions and greed, Fool's Gold is highly recommended for all collections. "Smith, an award-winning nonfiction writer, brings her passion for history to her first novel, a smart and hilarious send-up of cultural pretension in general and France's carefully fashioned mystique in particular. Scintillatingly funny and wryly observant, Smith orchestrates a delirious comed

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

Jane S. Smith writes about the intersection of science, natural history, and popular culture. She received her B.A. from Simmons College and her Ph.D. from Yale University and has taught at Northwestern University on topics ranging from twentieth century fiction to the history of public health.

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about an art historian (!) who takes her family to the South of France, where her two kids discover Celtic treasure. I think I remember reading that this author lives In Evanston and usually writes non-fiction. Basically, I think there are too many Americans writing about South of France, to say nothing of Tuscany ...

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this because it was on sale at Book People AND the author is named "Jane". it's an okay comedy of manners.

[Voin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes even a promising title leaves little to take along