Loving and loathing France with equal passion

The Secret Life of France

By Lucy Wadham Faber & Faber, €14

When Lucy Wadham was 18, she ran away from her native London to France for a summer.

There, she fell in love, got married, and raised two children. Yet, despite living in France for over two decades while she forged a successful career as a crime novelist, her relationship with the country remains ambiguous and complex.

The Secret Life Of France, ...