Life in a Small French Village: Recent Episodes
Jill Culiner
Born in New York, raised in Toronto, Jill Culiner has lived in several cars, one closet, a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, in a haunted house on the English moors, in the Sahara desert, on a Greek island, in several French villages and has worked as a go-go girl, belly dancer, fortune teller, translator, newspaper deliverer, radio broadcaster, contemporary artist, photographer, actress and writer. She has written two mysteries, Sad Summer in Biarritz, and Death by Slanderous Tongue. Her other books are: Finding Home In the Footsteps of the Jewish Fusgeyers, winner of the Tannenbaum Award for Canadian Jewish History; Félix et moi: à la recherche du patrimoine; a photography book, Sans s'abolir pourtant; and four romances. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no real interest. Much to everyone's dismay, she protects all living creatures--especially spiders--and her wild (or wildlife) garden is a classified butterfly and bird reserve.
On the last night of my book tour, I look for an interesting story and end up in a tricky situation
2 Those Absent on the Great Hungarian Plain: Tarzan, Udo and the Russians by Jill Culiner
The Hungarian Count sells paintings in Toronto from the book Those Absent on the Great Hungarian Plain
The beginning of my journey to find Velvel Zbarzher Available from Claret Press Paperback https://payhip.com/b/o7M23 Ebook https://payhip.com/b/HmK5C Or https://boook.link/A-Contrary-Journey-with-Velvel-Zbarzher-Bard
Velvel Zbarzher, rebel, songster, and glittering star of fusty inns, spent his life singing his Enlightenment poems to loyal audiences of poor workers and craftsmen in Austrian-Galicia, Romania, Vienna and Istanbul. His attacks condemning the religious stronghold resulted in banishment and itinerancy, but for Velvel and the other like the other reformers of his time, the compensations were great: heady stimulation, and an intellectual freedom prohibited in traditional life. Come travel back to the mid-1800s, discover the life, the villages, the odours, sounds and traditions.
A Contrary Journey with Velvel Zbarzher, Bard by Jill Culiner Published by Claret Press
Strange characters on the bus, Oklahoma's unsavoury history, the KKK, the Sooners, a breakfast invitation
I travel to Nevada to find the ideal place to set a story. Instead, I find Las Vegas, nuclear testing grounds, and assorted rubbish.
The Romanian Fusgeyers were the Jews who walked out of their country. One hundred and thirty years later, I crossed Romania in their footsteps before continuing on along the former immigrant trail across Europe, then to the gold and silver mining towns of Canada.
The greasy-haired man is on his way to meet his new love...a woman he has never seen...
I travel on to Winnipeg and Regina to talk about my books but, as usual in my life, nothing goes as planned. Still, tomorrow is another day...
Priceless artifacts are disappearing from the ancient Hittite site of Karakuyu in Turkey, and the site director has vanished. Called in to solve the mystery, archaeologist Renaud Townsend is hindered by both his inability to speak the language and the knowledge that the local police are corrupt. His attraction to translator Anne Pierson is immediate, although he is troubled by her refusal to talk about the past and her fear of public scandal. But when murder enters the picture, both Anne and Renaud realize that the risk of falling in love is not the only danger. Full audiobook available here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Turkish-Affair-Audiobook/B08CBH8XQC
After winning the Tanenbaum prize for my non-fiction book, I began a book tour in Canada and the USA. Although this is not always a success story, it's an amusing one. This chapter is about how the idea for a tour was born.
The last chapter in this series describes the last village 'bad boy' and the changes in the traditional French village.
Men love Rose Badger, and if the other inhabitants of dead-end Blake’s Folly, Nevada, don’t approve, she couldn’t care less. With a disastrous marriage far behind her, settling down is the last thing she intends to do. Isn’t life for fun? Doesn’t a stable relationship always mean predictability and boredom? Well… perhaps things might be different with Jonah Livingstone, but he is off limits for anything other than friendship. Even though, secretly, she’s deeply attracted to him, she knows he’s still entangled in a complicated past relationship. Besides, Rose has another secret life—one that she’ll never give up for any man.
The last person geologist Jonah Livingstone expected to meet in a semi-ghost town is Rose Badger. She’s easy-going, delightfully spontaneous, and Jonah is certain their attraction is mutual. But Rose is always surrounded by a crowd of admirers and doesn’t seem inclined to choose a favorite. Though Jonah has also suffered a failed marriage, he can’t help being drawn to Rose—and he dares to hope she may feel the same for him. But is Jonah too independent to settle into a permanent relationship again? He’s leading his own very private life, as well…and secrets are an excellent protection against love. Will he do what it takes to hold on to his desert rose?
A Canadian woman, hopes to change her life by moving to Biarritz. Having escaped a devastating relationship with the mentally unstable Dominique, she is determined to make new friends and find the perfect mate. But in this summer resort frequented by couples and families, available singles are lonely people, too often embittered by romantic failure. And if the young artist Vinnie has promised entry into local society, he remains an illusive figure. When Vinnie’s body surfaces at the Pointe des Fous new rumours circulate. Had he really been a fortune hunter, a seducer and blackmailer, or just a gentle, over-sensitive man, a loser in love and friendship? The police have concluded his death was accidental, but doesn’t everything point to murder? Or is the narrator over-reacting? Perhaps loneliness and isolation have made her suspicious, for love is as unattainable as ever, and threatening letters from Dominique are arriving with increasing frequency. Sad Summer in Biarritz, is a mystery, a story of the desperately lonely search for love, and a satirical portrait of French nouveau riche society in the 1980s. https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/sad-summer-in-biarritz/313714
The instant Sherry and Carston meet, there’s desire and fascination in the air…but they’re complete opposites. Smart-talking Sherry fought her way up from poverty to stardom as a country music singer. Now, she’s ever in the limelight, ever surrounded by clamoring fans, male admirers, and paparazzi, and her spangled cowboy boots carry her all across the country, from one brightly lit stage to the next. A renowned but reclusive playwright, Carston cherishes his freedom, the silence of his home in the woods, and his solitary country walks. Any long-term commitment is obviously out of the question: how about a quick and passionate fling? But when their names are linked in the scandal press, Sherry’s plans to become an actress are revealed. Is their budding relationship doomed?
The evening Marek Sumner opened his door to the wild-looking Felicity Powers, he knew nothing would ever be the same again. But even love and passion couldn’t keep them together. Years later, having lived in the world’s most dangerous places as a foreign aid worker, Felicity is back, still offering love, passion, and adventure. But why would Marek risk having his heart broken a second time? Now a well-known author, he loves his calm, solitary life in an isolated farmhouse. He and Felicity are just too different; their relationship could never work. But Felicity is just as fascinating and joyful as ever, and that wonderful sexy magic is still there too. Can love be better the second time around? Felicity's Power by J. Arlene Culiner (The Wild Rose Press) http://www.amazon.com/Felicitys-Power-J-Arlene-Culiner-ebook/dp/B00TZABHQW https://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/Felicitys-Power-Audiobook/B072FVMTHH
