I was much surprised when I saw that my local library had “Suit Francaise” as an audiobook.  After a few mishaps, I got started and finished listening to it on Friday.  As I said before, I wasn’t a fan of the first narrator.  But the female narrator, who read “Dolce” was fantastic.

Overall I liked the story.  In “A Storm in June” I felt that the author relayed the anxiety and feeling of desperation to flee Paris riveting.  What I especially liked is how she told the story from several points of view; families in the upper class such as the Pericand’s, artisans like Gabriel Corte and the lower middle class like the Michaud’s.  They all feel the intesnity of the exodus, but in varying degrees.  The Michauds’ jobs depend on leaving Paris and meeting up in Tour.  Their problem is that they have been looked over in favor of the boss’s mistress.  For the Pericand’s, they have packed up their servants, their best linens and family heirlooms to take with them to safety.  Gabriel Corte is most concerned with getting himelf and his manuscripts to safety.  As they travel from Paris to their different destinations, they see each other without knowing the other travellers.  The open ending of the story is a good lead in to the second part, “Dolce”.

In Dolce we find ourselves in the provincial town of Bussy.  This town is different from the big city of Paris and of the poorer farmland around them.  They have their own set of rules and habits that they adhere to vehemently.  When the German army comes in to stay, everyone is unsure of how to act.  Should you be nice to the enemy who has taken your loved ones as POW’s or killed your kinsmen?  The upper class families (more particularly the women) believe that a good French woman should not allow herself to be nice to the enemy.  It would be unpatriotic.  The men of the town are civil to the troops.  After all, the two sets of people need to live together in this town and in some cases, in the same house.

Throughout “Dolce” I remember hearing the phrase ‘this is how war is’ or ‘this is war’ and blaimg all of the animosity (in the town) on war.  Some of the townsfolk think that they can stick it to the Germans by overcharging for services/goods since the Germans were just recquisitioning everything anyway.  For some of the younger women, they are being civil because there are no more young French men left.  Men are men after all.

As much as I liked listening to the audiobook, I will need to read the actual book.  I find that I miss a lot of things when I listen to book as opposed to reading it.  But listening frees up some time for me to do other things at the same time.  I especially want to read the first part “A Storm in June” because as a result of the first narrator, I had a tough time discerning who was talking and when.

My book club won’t be discussing this book ’til November, so I’ve got some time.  So ’til then, I’ve picked up “The Boleyn Inheritance” at the library and….maybe I’m spent on Phlippa Gregory, but I’m not enraptured by this book yet.