The author of this tome is a journalist, biographer, lecturer and historian of French culture who appears regularly on radio and TV and is definitely the man to consult about twentieth-century France. He was awarded an OBE in 2011 for his work and writings on France and his services to UK-France cultural relations. He was appointed Dean of the University of London Institute in Paris in 2006.
So, when I picked this book off the shelf at Waterstones, I was very much aware that I would be reading the work of someone who actually knew what he was talking about. Born in Liverpool, Hussey now lives in Paris, and his book takes the reader on a journey through the country from the industrial north through to the Mediterranean coast and the multi-cultural city of Marseille. We see the country in its many guises and experience its cultural changes through the eyes of a man who has lived in, studied, and observed his adopted country over many years.
The book is part memoir, part travel, and part observation and assessment. With my well-used map easily to hand, I followed Hussey's journey from city to city. It was especially interesting to me to read his views on each location. I also found myself musing on his comments and conclusions, comparing them with my own thoughts and feelings about a country I have spent so much time in. The fissures he sees in French city society are there in rural France, too. Perhaps not quite so obviously, but the country is changing and has been for some time. On revisiting Revin - a small town in le Grand Est - after an absence of ten or so years, the change in the population's composition was very marked. On market day, the town was full, as expected, but the stalls were much more multi-cultural than traditionally French. The numerous small individual shops had been depleted by the emergence of the out-of-town supermarkets, and the ethnicity of the local people was significantly more diverse than before. There was a tension there, too, that I had not felt or witnessed anywhere else... until I went to Marseille a few years later.
Hussey completes his journey in what he calls the 'wicked city' of Marseille before returning to his Paris bolthole. Marseille is one of the oldest cities in France and perhaps the most multi-cultural. I believe I once said that, in Marseille, 'you can eat in any one of a hundred different languages'. Having read Hussey's chapter on this 'wicked city', it is clear that this is still the case. It was here a few years ago that I came across the Gilets Jaunes and the riot police lining the street I had inadvertently strayed into. I scarpered quick sharp! Hussey aptly describes this massive conurbation as a city of 'perpetual comings and goings'. The vast port area brings in immigrants - some legal, a significant number not - freight, cruise and naval ships. The quartiers nord, with a population of almost 250,000, is still one of the poorest, most ethnically diverse and most dangerous parts of the city. It clearly hasn't changed since I was last there.
This book is fascinating, but for those hoping for an easy and joyful read, I think you will be disappointed for the most part. This is an expose of a changing society across a large country. Whilst I could identify with some of the fissures highlighted by Hussey, I also mourned some aspects of Frenchness that were on the brink of disappearing. Regrettably, Hussey offers no solutions, but his keen-eyed observation and assessment still make this a thought-provoking read.
If you enjoyed this review, you might also be interested in my reviews of France on Trial, The Lost King of France, or The Paris Muse
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