France Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/tag/france/ Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time Fri, 16 Jan 2026 02:36:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/cropped-books-on-table-2-150x150.jpg France Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/tag/france/ 32 32 38398750 Skylark by Paula McClain https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2026/01/skylark-by-paula-mcclain/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2026/01/skylark-by-paula-mcclain/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:59:42 +0000 https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=19468 A young woman is imprisoned in an insane asylum in the 1600s. A psychiatric medical student in Paris in the 1940s is faced with the realities of the Nazi invasion. These two unrelated characters sit at the center of Paula McLain’s latest novel, Skylark, because both are forced to venture into the darkest parts of […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2026/01/skylark-by-paula-mcclain/feed/ 4 19468 The Curse of the Marquis de Sade https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2023/04/the-curse-of-the-marquis-de-sade/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2023/04/the-curse-of-the-marquis-de-sade/#respond Wed, 05 Apr 2023 07:53:48 +0000 https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=17433 If you’re a bibliophile, then you know the love of collecting books is highly personal. What is a treasure for some might be trash for others. This meant I was conflicted when deciding to read The Curse of the Marquis de Sade. I have no interest in erotic fiction nor did I particularly care about […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2023/04/the-curse-of-the-marquis-de-sade/feed/ 0 17433 Joan: A Novel by Katherine J. Chen https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2022/08/joan-a-novel-by-katherine-j-chen/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2022/08/joan-a-novel-by-katherine-j-chen/#respond Mon, 15 Aug 2022 04:10:56 +0000 https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=16882 Fresh week and time to really start sharing my summer reading. I’m coming in hot with a 5-star novel that is on track to be a favorite of the year. It’s Joan by Katherine Chen. The novel is about Joan of Arc, but is cast from the same mold as renderings of great men from […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2022/08/joan-a-novel-by-katherine-j-chen/feed/ 0 16882 The First Actress: A novel https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2020/05/the-first-actress-a-novel/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2020/05/the-first-actress-a-novel/#comments Wed, 27 May 2020 04:05:12 +0000 https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=14380 Born the illegitimate daughter of a French courtesan, Sarah Bernhardt didn’t even live with her mother until she was eight years old. When she did move in with her, Sarah caught the eye of one of her mother’s patrons and was shipped off to convent boarding school. Not for her safety, but because her mother […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2020/05/the-first-actress-a-novel/feed/ 2 14380 A Column of Fire by Ken Follett https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/09/a-column-of-fire/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/09/a-column-of-fire/#comments Wed, 27 Sep 2017 22:51:04 +0000 http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=9375   In the eyes of the church, the Bible was the most dangerous of all banned books…Priests said that ordinary people were unable to rightly interpret God’s word, and needed guidance. Protestants said the Bible opened men’s eyes to the errors of the priesthood. A Column of Fire is the third book in Ken Follett’s […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/09/a-column-of-fire/feed/ 3 9375 April Reading Recap https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/05/april-reading-recap/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/05/april-reading-recap/#comments Mon, 01 May 2017 07:20:53 +0000 http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=8653   Safe to say that April stayed more true to form than March, in that we had A LOT of rain, which is fine because now we have flowers everywhere. My reading was not quite so productive. I did have a 5 star winner with The Takedown, but beyond that I was stuck with hit or miss books. […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/05/april-reading-recap/feed/ 7 8653 5 Star Week: All the Light We Cannot See https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/04/5-star-week-all-the-light-we-cannot-see/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/04/5-star-week-all-the-light-we-cannot-see/#comments Wed, 12 Apr 2017 07:32:48 +0000 http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=8594   I may be writing this review to watch myself write because virtually every reader I know has already read Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. Ostensibly, my excuse is, this Pulitzer Prize winning novel originally published in 2014 is being re-released in paperback. But really? WHY did it take me this long […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/04/5-star-week-all-the-light-we-cannot-see/feed/ 16 8594 The Enemies of Versailles https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/04/the-enemies-of-versailles/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/04/the-enemies-of-versailles/#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2017 07:23:31 +0000 http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=8572   The Enemies of Versailles is the final novel in Sally Christie’s Mistresses of Versailles trilogy. When we left King Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour, one of his longest lasting mistresses had died and with her went the reign of mistress as advisor. The fact that she was able to keep her exalted position long […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2017/04/the-enemies-of-versailles/feed/ 2 8572 Marie Antoinette: Mix and Match https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2016/01/marie-antoinette-mix-and-match/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2016/01/marie-antoinette-mix-and-match/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2016 08:20:07 +0000 http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=5142 It’s no secret I’m not a huge reader of non-fiction, but often I am led to it by fiction or movies about real life subjects. For whatever reason, I need to be led to non-fiction by shiny objects and visual effects. Plus, when I do read it it is often about the aristocracy (dreams of […]

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]]> https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2016/01/marie-antoinette-mix-and-match/feed/ 5 5142 The Shadow Queen https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2014/04/shadow-queen/ https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2014/04/shadow-queen/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2014 07:04:20 +0000 http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/?p=2732   Louis XIV may have been a fascinating king but thankfully for readers, author Sandra Gulland prefers to focus on the woman behind the man. In The Shadow Queen, that woman is Athénaїs de Montespan, an aristocratic beauty who is able to pull the King’s interest away from his longtime mistress and claim him for […]

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