This collection of fifty-three personal essays by David Bouchier isn't quite a travel book or a memoir. With many of these essays originally broadcast on National Public Radio stations in New York and Connecticut, Not Quite a Stranger provides a lively portrait of France and the French through the unique voice of a beloved commentator.
With this book, you'll love reliving Bouchier's romantic attempt to establish himself as a Bohemian intellectual in Paris and look at the City of Lights with a fresh perspective.
You'll also enjoy exploring French village life alongside Bouchier and his wife, Diane, examining the countryside, history, art, social habits, and local politics. And then there are the penetrating questions: For instance, why are dangerous bulls encouraged to run through the village once a year?
Each chapter features a delightful short essay covering a wide array of topics. Sometimes thoughtful and sometimes humorous, they're always entertaining and enlightening, each capturing life in France from a different angle.
Drawing from Bouchier's background in sociology and education and expressed through a wonderfully engaging style, these essays reveal a deep love and affection for all things French and celebrate a lifestyle that's a virtual mirror image of "the American way."
About the Author: David Bouchier has been visiting France since the 1960s.
He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and spent two decades teaching sociology at universities in Britain. His 1986 marriage to a US citizen, plus the weather in England, brought him across the pond, where he was a visiting professor at the State University of New York before becoming a freelance writer and broadcaster.
Bouchier's syndicated commentaries and opinion columns have been published in dozens of newspapers across the country. His humor column Out of Order appeared in the regional Sunday edition of the New York Times for a decade, and he has contributed fiction and nonfiction to many literary and political magazines.
In recent years, he's shared weekly essays on NPR stations in New York and Connecticut and hosted a classical music program.
He lives with his wife, Diane, in Long Island and a village in France.
