Description
Book SynopsisFrom a small Scottish seaside town a man looks back on his life, from a boyhood in Algiers, through provincial France and Paris to Brighton, London and Oxford. He acknowledges that he had to come to terms with being born and raised on the wrong side of history during the bloody tail-end of French colonialism. In so doing, he writes candidly about what it meant to be a pied-noir, exiled from Algeria, unwelcome in France, and about the indelible imprint a childhood in a time of war has left on him. As a student in Paris, he was eye-witness to, and participant in, the May 1968 protests that almost toppled President de Gaulle's government. He then moved to England, making it his home for almost half a century. This not-Algerian man from Algeria and not-quite-French man from France fell in love with Britain and its culture. He soon chose to take up British nationality. This puts him in a privileged position to make perspicacious observations about the much commented on, but in his view often misread, relationship between the British and the French. We follow his experiences as a teacher, to a long career in book publishing, from editor to director, ending up in the digital world as a Microsoft content provider, with life-affirming experiences as a volunteer psychotherapist along the way. Following Brexit, there is a final move to Scotland as a more congenial environment. He finds himself attracted to the positive aspect of the bid for independence, and a potential reconnection with Europe. The journey between what was then and what is now incorporates bitter-sweet coming-of-age stories, not a little hilarious humour, as well as tales of adventurous travel in Western Africa. The author touches on themes that will resonate with many: the sensual pleasures of cooking, the romance of wine, the place of music in our lives, the need for friendship and conviviality, the importance of human resilience, especially in the face of ageing. It is a story about embracing life fully and also reflecting on it, told with verve and lucidity, in clear and often elegiac language that will entertain, move and inspire.
Table of Contents1. On a northern shore 3 2. Auld Lang Syne 4 3. "Where do you come from in France?" 5 4. Beachcombing 6 5. Life can be a beach, briefly... 8 6. From one river to another 10 7. What's in a name? 13 8. The multifarious triggers of memory 16 9. On the shoulders of short men 18 10. What can never be shed 20 11. The madness of crowds 21 12. The strange case of the absence of regrets 23 13. Childish pursuits 24 14. Scorched earth 27 15. One up, one down 28 16. Jack the lad - part one 30 17. Suitcase or coffin 31 18. Different welcomes 33 19. Double dose of adolescent spleen 36 20. Mother, martyr and matriarch 39 21. Jack the lad - part two 43 22. Awakened by the Master 46 23. The old ways of a French provincial town 49 24. Another world across the road 50 25. Lesson drawn, with help... 53 26. In limbo - flux and uncertainty 56 27. On the road 58 28. At last... 60 29. The 'Duke of Zellidja Award' 63 30. In Graham Greene's footsteps 65 31. In the time of fear - part one 70 32. Fitting in 72 33. "Sois jeune et tais-toi" 74 34. Spiral 77 35. "Imagination has seized power" 78 36. In the Gray zone 82 37. In praise of pubs 83 38. A sense of community 85 39. A Brighton honeymoon 87 40. The power of parsley 89 41. A view of the 70s from my seventies 91 42. In the time of fear - part two 94 43. Lost in the labyrinth of language 95 44. From school to books 99 45. Throwaway thoughts 105 46. Discovering the New World 108 47. The romance of wine 112 48. Listening to the secrets of strangers 118 49. Myths and legends 121 50. My first vote 125 51. The random pursuit of happiness 128 52. The lure of imagination 131 53. A glimpse into the hinterland 133 54. My generation 135 55. Time for a last good-bye 137 56. A thread of beads 141
