“Dictionnaire Amoureux de la Loire”

Charles of Orleans, Du Bellay, Balzac, Maurice Genevoix, Julien Gracq and so many others have told of its mild climate, its stretches of golden sand and the violence of its floods. From the Roman conquest to the Vendée war to the German occupation, the Loire has seen everything and overcome everything. 

Its golden era was the Renaissance, when the Loire Valley first assumed the splendours that led UNESCO to inscribe it on the World Heritage list in 2000. 

From the mountains of Ardèche to the schists of Brittany, in an unparalleled combination of landscape, architecture and Epicurean art of living, it is the melting-pot of our language and our history alike. 

The Loire is a French passion, and a major component of our identity. 

Editions Plon , March 2014
800 pages - €25