Synopses & Reviews
In this enchanting European version of A Year by the Sea, an artist recalls her liberating sojourn in France during the sixtiesand the friendship that transformed her life. Marjorie was a young woman from Chicago in the 1960s who shocked her family and fiancé by moving to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. There she fell in love and married Yves, a handsome and volatile French painter. On a trip to Brittany, a rugged area on the northern coast of France, her husband impulsively purchases nearly half of a hamlet, La Salle, and she finds herself renovating a house in this remote village. Surrounded by neighbors who dress only in black, speak patois, and still employ customs and farming methods from the Middle Ages, Marjorie finds a friend in Jeanne, an old and illiterate peasant woman who has three cows to her name and no knowledge of the world outside her village. Their differences are staggering, yet as Marjories marriage unravels they forge a friendship brimming with laughter, wisdom, and an uncommon exchange of customs from vastly different cultures.
A Gift from Brittany is a charming, moving memoir about the grace that can be found through friendship, and finding reserves of strength you never knew you possessed.
Review
This book is indeed a gift
A child, a house, a dog, a new country, another language, a snake, a man: all tumble about in glorious chaos in this soulfelt memoir so beautifully written. Its lively and lovely and funny, too. Youll want to travel with Marjorie Price to see the world as she views it.
Malachy McCourt, author of Malachy McCourts History of Ireland and A Monk Swimming
The story of a young artist from Chicago who leaves her American heritage and is transplanted to rural France, A Gift from Brittany paints a moving picture of Prices struggle and survival. She retains her talent, as well as her dignity, and finds herself forever strengthened.
Joan Anderson, author of A Year by the Sea and An Unfinished Marriage
Synopsis
In this charming, moving memoir, an artist recalls her liberating sojourn in France during the sixties--and the unlikely friendship that transformed her life.
Synopsis
The enchanting memoir of an artist?s liberating sojourn in France during the sixties?and the friendship that transformed her life While in her late twenties, Marjorie Price leaves the comfort of her Chicago suburb to strike out on her own in Paris and hone her artistic talents. Dazzled by everything French, she falls in love with a volatile French painter and they purchase an old farmhouse in the Breton countryside. When Marjorie?s seemingly idyllic marriage begins to unravel, she forms a friendship with an elderly peasant woman, Jeanne, who is illiterate, has three cows to her name, and has never left the village. Their differences are staggering yet they forge a friendship that transforms one another?s life.
About the Author
Marjorie Price has been a painter all her life. She was born in Chicago, graduated from Stanford University in speech and drama, and studied painting at the San Francisco Art League and the Chicago Art Institute. In 1960 she left for France, where she created an art center and dedicated herself to painting. In 1970 she moved to Italy with her daughter, Danielle, and settled in Rome. She exhibited her work in galleries, and her graphics are represented in the permanent collection at the National Museum of Copper Etching in Rome. Returning to the United States in the late 1970s, she worked in television and as a graphic designer, and has written several children’s books. She currently lives in New York City and continues to paint and show her work in galleries. A Gift from Brittany is her first work of nonfiction.