| Description |
xii, 283 pages : map ; 22 cm |
| Summary |
"A beguiling memoir of a childhood in 1950s Fontainebleau from the much-admired New York Times bestselling author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank. For a young American boy in the 1950s, Fontainebleau was a sight both strange and majestic, home to a continual series of adventures: a different language to learn, weekend visits to nearby Paris, family road trips to Spain and Italy. Then there was the chateau itself: a sprawling palace once the residence of kings, its grounds the perfect place to play hide-and-seek. The curiosities of the small town and the time with his family as expats left such an impression on him that thirty years later Carhart returned to France with his wife to raise their two children. Touring Fontainebleau again as an adult, he began to appreciate its influence on French style, taste, art, and architecture. Each trip to Fontainebleau introduces him to entirely new aspects of the chateau's history, enriching his memories and leading him to Patrick Ponsot, the head of the chateau's restoration, who becomes Carhart's guide to the hidden Fontainebleau. What emerges is an intimate chronicle of a time and place few have experienced. In warm, precise prose, Carhart reconstructs the wonders of his childhood as an American in postwar France, attending French schools with his brothers and sisters. His firsthand account brings to life nothing less than France in the 1950s, from the parks and museums of Paris to the rigors of French schooling to the vast chateau of Fontainebleau and its village, built, piece by piece, over many centuries. Finding Fontainebleau is for those captivated by the French way of life, for armchair travelers, and for anyone who has ever fallen in love with a place they want to visit over and over again"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Contents |
Flight -- France -- The Château, the town, and the forest -- The house -- François I, Henri II -- The Emperor's office -- Moving in -- School -- Henri IV -- Déstructuré -- Annick -- Dictée -- Fencing -- Cars and planes -- Being Catholic -- "Dad gum it!" -- Marie Antoinette -- A room of her own -- Le Jardin du Luxembourg -- Paris -- Winter -- "In between" -- Camping -- Painting -- Napoleon I -- The staircase of farewells -- Spain -- Guignol -- Napoleon III -- A ship weathers the storm -- Folies d'adolescence -- Souvenirs -- A crime of passion -- Return -- Leaving -- The most beautiful room in France. |
| Subject |
Carhart, Thaddeus -- Childhood and youth.
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Americans -- France -- Fontainebleau -- Biography.
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Boys -- France -- Fontainebleau -- Biography.
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Fontainebleau (France) -- Biography.
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Fontainebleau (France) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.
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Château de Fontainebleau (Fontainebleau, France)
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Fontainebleau (France) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
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Carhart, Thaddeus -- Travel -- France.
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France -- Description and travel.
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Personal Memoirs.
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TRAVEL -- Europe -- France.
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- General.
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| Other Form: |
Online version: Carhart, Thaddeus. Finding Fontainebleau. New York, New York : Viking, 2016 9780698191617 (DLC) 2016009173 |
| ISBN |
9780525428800 (hardcover) |
|
0525428801 (hardcover) |
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