Historical fiction isn't my thing. Nor did I, at any point in the novel, feel simpatico with any character, situation, or line of dialogue. Nor have I ever used the word simpatico until now, and I won't ever use it again because the word and I are not compatible.

But I got through it, which is more than I can say for Birdsong. The cover has a gold, slightly debossed serif font which is nice, but I generally hate it when novel covers use photographs.

The claims that it "weaves an unbreakable spell of narrative, mood, and character that evokes French masters from Flaubert to Renoir" and that readers may find it superior to The French Lieutenant's Woman are delusional.

Series Name................French Trilogy
Author..........................Sebastian Faulks
Narrator.......................James Wilby
Abr/Unabr....................Unabridged
Total Runtime................8 Hours 39 Mins


blurb - Set in provincial France in 1936, Faulks’s second novel established his reputation and set out the themes that he would deal with for the next ten years.Anne Louvet arrives to work at the run-down hotel of the title, in Janvilliers, a small coastal town in Brittany. It is clear that she brings with her the secret of a traumatic past. Almost at once, she becomes fascinated by a local lawyer, Hartmann, who lives in a large and semi-derelict house on a headland with his wife Christine.The novel deals with the growing love between Anne and Hartmann, the moral difficulties it poses to each and the way in which the private lives of individuals are affected by public events. Hartmann, who was a young intelligence officer in the First World War, has lived a full life in Paris before his marriage, which has turned out to be loveless. Anne has been brought up by a guardian after a scandal when she was a child, involving her father and the French army mutinies of 1917.

The political life of France in the 1930’s, as it descends towards the shame of Vichy, provides the background against which the deeper colours of the past are gradually painted in. Hartmann and Anne both feel themselves to be victims of events whose repetition they are powerless to prevent.

It was the depth of characterisation and the depiction of Anne’s emotional life, her passion for Hartmann and her determination to shake off the weight of the past, that resonated most powerfully with readers, many of whom still claim it is their favourite of all Faulks’s novels.

About The Reader:
James Wilby is a British and was actor was born in 1958 in Rangoon, Burma. He was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, and from there went on to study for a degree at Grey College. His filmography includes the title role in Maurice (1987), Howard's End (1992) and Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001) in which he plays the Hon. Freddie Nesbitt. He has also appeared in the Masterpiece Theatre presentations A Tale of Two Cities, Adam Bede and The Woman in White. In 2001 he was included in F.M. magazines listing of the 50 sexiest British actors.

This first novel in the French Trilogy is beautifully written and pulls on the heartstrings in all the right moments and without palling those readers, such as myself, who are not so very keen on angst-ridden loveh-doveh. The atmosphere seems to be right however I couldn't whip up too much enthusiasm for the story line.

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2.5* - (1989) The Girl at the Lion d'Or
3* - (1993) Birdsong: A Novel Of Love And War (3.5*)
3* - (1997) Charlotte Grey

2* - (2001) On Green Dolphin Street
3* - (2006) Devil May Care (2.5*)
4* - (2007) Engelby

It was alright. Far from being my favorite book of the year. I was confused in the beginning with all the character but had them down soon enough. There wasn't a great deal of events occurring throughout the story but I was still kept interested. I thought her "secret" would've been something a bit crazier, but I guess it was different times back then. The ending was too abrupt.

3,5 stars

Surprisingly small and unprepossessing for SF but a good portrait of the Leon Blum government/society in pre-war France.

The point is made, or rather the question is asked, why are the people in charge so bad? The answer is that the men who should have been leading the country forward are all dead in the Great War battlefields. My question is this: are these books really meant as a trilogy? They seem so different other than their French background.

SF is surprisingly funny here as he satirizes some of the working class characters such as Bruno the chef and Roland the peeping tom. The womanizer loves the scrumptious lunches created by one of his lovers, but sometimes feels too bloated to follow her into the double doors of the bedroom.

The main love story is unaffecting. It reminds me of Madame Bovary in its way, one of the world's great books even though one may feel it is sad, dark, and pointless.

Very Edwardian feel to this book; I was genuinely shocked to see it was written in the 80s!

Slow moving, character study period romance. I doubt people uninterested in history would enjoy it, but it was right up my alley. Each person represented a whole section of France, still recovering from The Great War, and being forced to confront the inevitable new one around the corner. Like France, poor Anne didn't stand a chance.

A girl who is haunted by her shameful past. Between two wars. She escapes Paris to escape herself. Gets an older man as her lover in a small town. But small town talk creates too much pressure for both. She has to leave.
It would have the frame for a nice romance, in post WWI France. But for me, the style did not appeal. The sentences are long and stiff. Its dragging on. The novel had no closure. I was disappointed.

Another excellent read by Sebastian Faulks! He's by far my favorite author of books based in France. They are just so detailed and real. The Girl at the Lion D'or is no exception, and engrossed me from the first page. It's a quaint little love story, and I only wish it were longer because I wanted to keep reading!

I didn't particularly like this book, or its plot, or its characters, but I found bits of it so disconcertingly relatable that it freaked me out.

Unrelated - but also discussed in the book - wars suck.

I have read and enjoyed a number of Faulks' novels (i.e. not just Birdsong...) and yet for some reason, after my dad passed on a 'spare' copy he had acquired somehow, I allowed it to languish on my shelves in our apartment, moved house and allowed it to languish some more (approximately one year) on my new shelves in our house. I definitely enjoyed all of Faulks' other books but this one just never grabbed me. I have no clue why. Having finally read it, I have absolutely no clue why!

There are so many reasons why this book is so much more than it seems but it largely comes down to some superb characterisation and exceptionally sensitive writing. I don't remember reading a book with characters that felt so real - I found that each character was a complex blend of admirable qualities and flaws, just like they should be. Take Anne, for example. I started the book feeling almost protective towards her because she appeared so frail. Her fragility is something I felt continued and yet she avoids being a stereotype because her clear issues with love and trust. There were times when she demonstrated a remarkable strength and then others when I just wanted to shake her and drum some self-awareness and self-respect into her.

The most poignant moments for me, however, were those featuring Clare, Charles' suffering wife. Her private heartbreak and stoicism are devastating to read, sidelined as they are and revealed every so often through the eyes of Clare herself. For a character who is involved so little, she adds a balance to the story that tempers the eager tone of Anne. Ordinarily in stories with love triangles, the author takes the easy route and makes 'the wife' almost to blame for some reason. You know the type: the unfeeling/absent/non-Stepford wives who are peripheral and allow us to suspend our moral fibre just enough to believe that the 'true' love of the protaganists isn't wrong, somehow, but virtuous.

Interestingly, there are also some political thoughts and historical notes intertwined too and the era shows through most in the post-war sense of life and freedom that seeps into the character of Charles. For the most part it works but occasionally I found myself reading something that I felt wasn't quite made relevant and made a conversation stilted. Its great as a support to the characters' situations though and only serves to make the story more real.

Overall: This novel is outstanding - not necessarily because of the plot but because the characters are achingly well drawn and I found myself utterly believing in them. There are entertaining moments and some heartbreaking ones. This is very much a book about people and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an intense look at shattering love.

"What if all our lives are just a circle where at a certain point you cross an unseen tripwire that sets spinning the same process again?"

One rainy night young Anne Louvet arrives by train in the provincial French city Janvilliers to take up the post of waitress at the city's Lion d'Or. Anne is attractive and intelligent but there is a sense of mystery in her background as we learn early on the Louvet is not her real surname. Arriving in the city not knowing anybody Anne soon finds herself courted by local architect and playboy Andre Mattlin but instead finds herself attracted to married lawyer Charles Hartmann. Charles lives in an old mansion, which he is hoping to renovate, on the outskirts of the city with his barren and unhappy wife Christine. Charles reciprocates Anne's interest and takes her away for a weekend at the country house of an old friend. Once there their relationship turns sexual and Anne tells Charles the secret of her tragic life thus far in which she has seen hardship and abandonment.

Charles feels himself torn by his love for Anne and the sympathy for her tumultuous up-bringing and the duty he feels towards his wife. Someone is going to be face devastation but will it be Anne or Christine?

"One act of will of self-restraint might break a circuit."

Set in the 1930's the country is still struggling to overcome the physical and political scars of WWI and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany all add to the anxiety especially as the despicable Mattlin points out Charles is partly Jewish. The weakness of France’s governments; and the true horror of Anne’s girlhood secret all blend into a powerful story.

In truth there is not an awful lot of action rather this book concentrates on character development. It would be easy to feel sorry for Anne and that Charles has abused his position and wealth to take advantage of her loneliness but instead we end up almost palpably feeling Charles struggles with his conscience, he must decide between love,pity and duty. Any fan of John Fowles 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' will almost certainly also enjoy this as each contain certain obvious parallels.
This wasn't my favourite of Faulk's works that I've read but is a well crafted and touching read all the same.

The Girl At The Lion D'or is another beautiful novel from Sebastian Faulks. Set in France before the beginning of the Second World War, Anne finds a new job at a hotel in small rural village. She gets to know the local people and begins to carve herself a life, when she meets Hartmann who turns everything on its head and finally allows her to reveal her secret past.

At the heart of the book is the love story but Faulks deals with ideas of repetition on macro and micro scales (the wars, human behaviour, politics down to the repetitive nature of work). We are lead down a path with Anne and in true Faulks style it's delightfully subversive.

I definitely recommend reading this one, it has a relevance today that I wonder whether he intended with his theme? After all, history repeats itself...

Having read and enjoyed "Birdsong" immensely, an historical Great War novel set in France, I was eager to read the second novel in the trilogy, although the first to be written. Essentially a romantic novel injected with French politics of the inter-war years, "The Girl at the Lion D’hor" captures beautifully the atmosphere and stifling culture of a small French town and the effect that its social mores has on the two main characters, Anna and Hartmann. It’s not as good as "Birdsong" but certainly worth a read. I will most certainly read the third in the trilogy "Charlotte Grey" before long.