Crazy about the Creuse: Jottings from the heart of France (St Paradis Series Book 4)

IF YOU enjoyed Anne Loader’s St Paradis trilogy about her family’s experiences in a haunted granite farmhouse in the depths of the Limousin countryside, you’ll want to read the newly published companion volume, the e-book "Crazy about the Creuse – Jottings from the heart of France".



Since "A Bull by the Back Door", "The Duck with a Dirty Laugh" and "The Bells of St Paradis" appeared as e-books, they have rarely been out of the Amazon Kindle charts for e-books about France and lots of readers have asked “What happened next?”



However, now the Loaders have retired and can spend much more time at St Paradis, Anne felt that the previous journal format was inappropriate. So to please her fans, she has gathered together a collection of 73 illustrated articles – both humorous and serious – from those that she contributed over a period of several years to pontnoir.com, a website aimed at English-speaking home-owners in the department of the Creuse.



The cyber-column was also called “Crazy about the Creuse” and was written under the pseudonym of “Annik”. The articles have been updated and added to for the Kindle version and many additional colour photographs have been included – bringing the number of illustrations up to 160. There is an introduction about the department for those who do not know the Limousin region, and the e-book should appeal to all those who love France and its quirky Gallic ways.



The work is a 110,000-word pot-pourri of individual pieces and in-depth studies, each around 1,500 words long, rather than a narrative to be read from cover to cover in one sitting. Several themes emerge though, including light-hearted accounts of personal experiences in a tiny commune, features on social history and folklore, observations on French life, and practical advice for those new to living in France.



Running through them all is Anne’s love of the Creuse itself, which stands on the northern edge of the Massif Central and is one of the least populated departments in France. She describes it as “an undiscovered jewel ... a secret retreat peopled by canny country folk who look you over, assess you, and take you to their hearts if they deem you worthy.”