I picked up Graham Robb’s book, The Discovery of France at the St Pancras Station bookstore in London before returning to Paris on the Eurostar in January. I was sold on the stellar reviews it received from all the major British newspapers. On the back cover I read, “It’s a book that reveals the ‘real’ past of France to tell the whole story — and history — of this remarkable nation.”

How could I resist? Robb, a professor of French history and literature, who already wrote books on Balzac, Rimbaud, and Victor Hugo, starts off his introduction with: “Ten years ago, I began to explore the country on which I was supposed to be an authority.” He spent four years in the library and 14,000 miles on his bicycle researching “The Discovery of France”. And it shows. This is no fluff peice written just for tourists, but a true scholarly work that’s not only entertaining, but utterly fascinating to anyone (like myself) who thinks they “know” France.

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