FRANCE An Adventure History

Graham Robb cycles his way through French history from the Gauls to Charlie Hebdo in these unconnected historical essays. Narrator Tom Lawrence has his work cut out for him with all the French names and terms and dense details that don't always have a clear context. Lawrence has a lovely English accent, an attractive lilt, and good energy. But sometimes he sounds a bit too pleasant, and you find yourself in the middle of terrible genocide without quite knowing how you got there. Most fascinating are Robb's obscure tangents--the tree in the middle of the country, villagers out for violence as the Tour de France peloton passes by, or present-day protests against roundabouts--and Lawrence really hits his storytelling stride in these moments. A.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2023]