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Spargel and springtime

29/5/2015

This month's Swiss and German book tour is on the last lap, after a terrific reading last night night in the spa town of Bad Salzhausen, where 120 people gave such an enthusiastic reception that the bookstore ran out of Bruno cookbooks to sell.

Many of those coming to get their books signed showed photos of their own holiday visits to Perigord. Some even had pictures of themselves with my friend Pierrot, our own policeman, who inspired the idea of mystery novels set in the Perigord and featuring a charming village policeman who loves to cook.

The German-speaking world is heaven for writers; people love books, enjoy coming to readings and enjoy hearing stories of life and food and wine in the Perigord. And the booksellers are very imaginative. Many evenings involved a culinary reading around a 3 or 4 or even 5 course dinner, usually based on Perigord recipes from my cookbook.

Because they now know my fondness for fresh Spargel, asparagus, many evenings feature a dish of white Spargel, Hollandaise sauce, new potatoes and a glass of dry Riesling. May is Spargel season in Germany, which is another good reason for making May my month for a reading tour.

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Gute tage

7/5/2015

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This year’s German book tour began with a bang, when the new Bruno novel, Provokateure (in English, Children of War) leaped into number 2 in the Der Spiegel best-seller list.

The tour itself began with old friends. The first night was my third visit to the Meier family bookshop in the picturesque old town of Weissenburg. We feasted on Sauternes and Bergerac wine with foie gras, stuffed mushrooms and delightful tiny quiches. Each recipe came from the Bruno cookbook, all prepared by Birgit who runs a local restaurant is the girlfriend of my host and chum, Mathias Meier. We had a sell-out crowd, who were very forgiving of my stumbling German, since Mathias told them I was jet-lagged after flying in that day from the US.

The second night of the tour was in Schwabmunchen, for my second visit to Buchhandlung Schmidt, where the very energetic young Hans Grunthaler brings in customers with regular concerts, readings and performances. Since we overflowed his bookshop on my first visit, this time he had arranged for the meeting to take place in a very luxurious local furniture store, where more than a hundred people could sit comfortably on sofas and armchairs.

Hans had brought along a splendid accordionist who played vintage French bal musette music in the pauses between the reading extracts – so naturally I danced with all the ladies in the front row. We had a splendid evening. If only American and British booksellers were so imaginative!

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Spargel and springtime

Gute tage

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