THE FRENCH DETECTION

by Ann Waldron ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 1979

A wish-fulfilling entertainment about Bessie, just 13, who goes to France all by herself (from Delight, Texas) to spend a summer month at a boarding house/ crafts workshop run by American Lydia (only about 20, it turns out) and her French boyfriend Philippe. Bessie easily picks up French customs (bread and jam for breakfast, no orange juice), fits in better than older, less adaptable Americans, and chooses photography as her programme de travail. (She's come equipped with an instamatic.) Thus when Lydia and Philippe are harassed by one M. Malignon, who threatens them with eviction and Lydia with deportation, it is Bessie's photos that expose Malignon's stolen-antiques export business and save the young couple's venture. The story ends, naturellement, with a fˆte, to celebrate Lydia and Philippe's buying their own old farmhouse and their solution--marriage--to Lydia's passport problem. Mild but pleasant, for the wish-we-were-there crowd.

Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION