My Grape Year takes fans of Laura Bradbury's 'Grape' series back to where it all began. In a last-minute twist of fate, Laura is sent to Burgundy, France for a year on an exchange. She arrives knowing only a smattering of French and with no idea what to expect in her first foray out of North America. With a head full of dreams and a powerful desire to please, Laura adapts to Burgundian life, learning crucial skills such as the fine art of winetasting and how to savor snails. However, her inability to resist the charming young men of the region means that Laura soon runs afoul of the rules, particularly the 'no dating' edict. Romantic afternoons in Dijon, early morning pain au chocolat runs, and long walks in the vineyards are wondrous, but also present Laura with a conundrum - how does she keep her hosts happy while still managing to follow her heart?
My Grape Paris takes fans of Laura Bradbury's Grape Series to the captivating world of Paris, where Laura has managed to organize an exchange year at the Sorbonne. Franck accompanies her, delighted to return to his native France. Over afternoons napping in an ancient Roman amphitheater and nights gallivanting around the Louvre, Laura dreams of becoming a sophisticated Parisian woman. However, Laura soon discovers that living in Paris is much more complicated than the fantasy. Besides inappropriate relatives and spiteful teachers, there are also questions that become impossible to ignore. Will Franck stay in Paris after Laura's stint at the Sorbonne is up? Is their Parisian year the final hurrah for their romance? Find out in My Grape Paris, as Laura confronts love and heartbreak in the city of lights. Praise for Laura Bradbury's Grape Series: "Bradbury's Grape Series feels like a series of honest and funny letters sent from a friend about her fascinating (and sometimes baffling) life in France. A beautiful read." -JANICE MACLEOD, New York Times bestselling author of Paris Letters and A Paris Year "Bradbury's Grape Series takes the reader on a romantic adventure into the heart, soul, and people of la belle France. Filled with delicious food, love, and laughter, Bradbury's writing proves that you have to dare to follow your heart wherever it leads you...and that sometimes we have to step outside our comfort zone to truly live." -SAMANTHA VÉRANT, author of How to Make a French Family and Seven Letters from Paris
Five years after "My Grape Escape," Laura and Franck are back in Burgundy to tackle their newest project, a derelict 16th century winemaker's cottage located behind Franck's family home. Not only is this a daunting rebuild from the ground up, Laura and Franck now have two preschoolers adjusting to the foreign customs of a French school. Navigating the different rules for raising children and managing a family in a small French village prove every bit as challenging for Laura as learning to drive a stick shift through narrow streets, or arguing with the Architect of French Monuments over permissible paint colors (spoiler alert: any color as long as it's gray). Come along on this evocative and honest journey where love, coupled with good French food and local wine, pave the way to la belle vie.
Nominated for a 2021 Taste Canada Award and now available in paperback, Bisous & Brioche will transport you to a rustic French cottage surrounded by vineyards—no matter where in the world your kitchen might be. For years readers of Laura Bradbury’s bestselling Grape Series memoirs have been clamouring for the secrets behind all the mouthwatering meals described in the stories about her life in Beaune, Burgundy. Together with her friend, photographer and cookbook author Rebecca Wellman, Laura shares recipes that have been handed down through her husband Franck’s family or passed on by French friends and neighbours, and that now feature regularly on the menu at her house. Bisous & Brioche features classics like vinaigrettes, madeleines, crêpes, crème fraîche, tarts, cassoulet, coq au vin—dishes whose names alone will warm the heart of any Francophile. The recipes are served up with anecdotes about their arrival in Laura’s life and are accompanied by Rebecca’s sun-soaked photos of market visits, meal prep, and lazy lunches in the vineyard.
"A twenty-six year old newlywed on the path to a prestigious legal career in London buys a decrepit, revolutionary-era ruin in the tiny Burgundian village of Magny-les-Villers. Was that split-second, life-altering decision profoundly wise or utterly insane? Find out in My Grape Escape -- a story for anyone who's imagined taking a U-Turn in life to seize their joy. Could an Oxford law student schooled in overachievement trade it all in for the humble work of polishing metal door hinges forged in 1789 at the dawn of the French Revolution? Laura Bradbury found out when, as a twenty-six year old newlywed on the path to a prestigious legal career in London, she leapt off the ladder to success to buy a decrepit ruin in the tiny French village of Magny-les-Villers with her Burgundian husband. Trading in her academic cap and gown for a ruthlessly traditional French winemaking town brought a myriad of unsettling new experiences. Laura's idealistic visions of bicycling through the French vineyards with fresh baguettes under her arm had not included being confronted with a steaming plate of veal brains for breakfast or taming an ogre of an electrician named Tin Tin who hunted wild boars in his spare time. Still, as Laura learned the art of bartering for antique armoires and rekindled romance with her husband she also gained a newfound perspective on herself, including her recurrent panic attacks and her inability to carry on conversations with the Virgin Mary like her Catholic husband and the rest of his family. Laura's tale of her escape to the vineyards of France is told with humor and a large dollop of honesty. It allows readers to travel to France without needing to buy a plane ticket!"--provided from Amazon.com.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Wilde in Love, a joyful chronicle of a year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world: Paris. “What a beautiful and delightful tasting menu of a book: the kids, the plump little dog, the Italian husband. Reading this memoir was like wandering through a Parisian patisserie in a dream. I absolutely loved it.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love When bestselling romance author Eloisa James took a sabbatical from her day job as a Shakespeare professor, she also took a leap that many people dream about: She sold her house and moved her family to Paris. With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog). Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a New York Times bestselling author and her spirited, enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour. Praise for Paris in Love “Exhilarating and enchanting . . . brims with a casual wisdom about life.”—Chicago Tribune “In this delightful charm-bracelet of a memoir, [Eloisa James shares] her adventures as an American suddenly immersed in all things French—food, clothes, joie de vivre.”—People “Enchanting . . . gives the reader a sense of being immersed along with James in Paris for a year . . . you see the rain, taste the food, observe the people.”—USA Today “This delectable confection, which includes recipes, is more than a visit to a glorious city: it is also a tour of a family, a marriage, and a love that has no borders. Très magnifique!”—Library Journal (starred review) “A charming, funny and poignant memoir . . . steeped in Paris and suffused with love.”—Star Tribune “Charming . . . a romance—for a city, a life, a family, and love itself.”—The Huffington Post
From the publisher of Pipette Magazine, discover a natural wine-soaked memoir about finding your passion—and falling in love. It was Rachel Signer's dream to be that girl: the one smoking hand-rolled cigarettes out the windows of her 19th-century Parisian studio apartment, wearing second-hand Isabel Marant jeans and sipping a glass of Beaujolais redolent of crushed roses with a touch of horse mane. Instead she was an under-appreciated freelance journalist and waitress in New York City, frustrated at always being broke and completely miserable in love. When she tastes her first pétillant-naturel (pét-nat for short), a type of natural wine made with no additives or chemicals, it sets her on a journey of self-discovery, both deeply personal and professional, that leads her to Paris, Italy, Spain, Georgia, and finally deep into the wilds of South Australia and which forces her, in the face of her "Wildman," to ask herself the hard question: can she really handle the unconventional life she claims she wants? Have you ever been sidetracked by something that turned into a career path? Did you ever think you were looking for a certain kind of romantic partner, but fell in love with someone wild, passionate and with a completely different life? For Signer, the discovery of natural wine became an introduction to a larger ethos and philosophy that she had long craved: one rooted in egalitarianism, diversity, organics, environmental concerns, and ancient traditions. In You Had Me at Pét-Nat, as Signer begins to truly understand these revolutionary wine producers upending the industry, their deep commitment to making their wine with integrity and with as little intervention as possible, she is smacked with the realization that unless she faces, head-on, her own issues with commitment, she will not be able to live a life that is as freewheeling, unpredictable, and singular as the wine she loves.
"Laura Bradbury's writing will make you hungry for life." - Amazon reviewer My Grape Cellar takes fans of Laura Bradbury's Grape Series back to the charming village of Beaune, where Laura and Franck embark on another grande adventure to restore a long-neglected wine cellar beneath the cobblestone streets-sight unseen. Much as they dream of family winetastings in this relic of historic France, reviving a thirteenth-century cellar proves a formidable task. Laura never imagined she'd be hunting through ancient sinks, hauling stones by moonlight, or appointing godparents for a medieval cave, all while managing an even more important project: a new baby. Can Laura and Franck transform a dingy cellar full of garbage and coal into a magical space in the wine capital of Burgundy? Find out in My Grape Cellar, book 6 in the bestselling Grape Series.
A New York Times bestseller! Cofounder of the international beauty company Caudalíe shares the simple, natural, time-tested beauty secrets she learned growing up in France that any woman can use to look younger, healthier, and more radiant without harsh products or drastic procedures. When Mathilde Thomas moved from her native France to the United States to expand her skin-care company, Caudalíe, she wanted to find out what American women wanted from their beauty routines. She interviewed thousands of women and was struck by how different the French and American approaches to beauty were. American women are all about the quick fix—the elusive product or procedure that will instantly solve a nagging beauty problem, even if it hurts, is wildly expensive, or is damaging in the long term. The French, by contrast, approach beauty as an essential and pleasurable part of the day, a lifelong and active investment that makes you look and feel good. Mathilde used these insights to turn Caudalíe into one of America’s top beauty brands. Drawing on her company’s twenty years of scientific skin-care expertise backed by the research of doctors and dermatologists—as well as the beauty secrets she learned growing up on a vineyard in Bordeaux—The French Beauty Solution covers everything from how to use natural ingredients such as oil and honey to wash your face; what foods to eat for healthier hair, skin, and nails; and the amazing properties of grapes and grapeseed oil. She also introduces an easy three-day grape cleanse that European aristocrats have been using to detox for hundreds of years. Blending stories, science, DIY recipes, and tons of savoir faire, The French Beauty Solution is the last beauty regimen you’ll ever need.
My Grape Wedding takes fans of Laura Bradbury's 'Grape' series back to the enchanting world of Burgundy five years after Franck and Laura meet on a student exchange. After a spontaneous proposal in Kathmandu, the bride-to-be struggles with balancing the academic demands of an Oxford law student in between lessons on how to be a proper Catholic and fittings with the Queen of England's corset maker. Back in Burgundy, Laura's anxiety grows as wedding plans fall apart. As guests arrive, the rain clouds move in, family wine tastings turn into tournaments of survival of the fittest, and a bombshell from the priest leaves the couple looking for divine intervention. Laura believes she and Franck belong together, but how will they survive this tumultuous journey to the altar?
