Book Lunch May 2011

Sandra

Major Pettigrew’s last stand -  Helen Simonson. Charming, gentle, very readable. Highly rcommended.

Helen L.

The devil in the White City  Erik Larson. A serial killer and an architect at the peak of his career. Two very different men make their mark on the world. True events that occurred during the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893. Gripping.

Plato and a platypus walk into a bar;understanding philosophy through jokes – Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein (www.platoandaplatypus.com). An  excellent and amusing introduction to philosophical concepts. Recommended.

Pam

The hare with amber eyes – Edmund de Waal. The author inherited a valuable collection of 264 Nesuke, handed down through the family for several generations. He explores the life and times of some of the earliest owners of the carvings.

City of falling angels John Berendt

The author lived in Venice for some months after the fire that destroyed La Fenice. The book contains interviews with various local residents who had witnessed the fire, and with others who remembered the famous expatriate authors and artists who had lived there last century. An interesting account of the workings of a fascinating city.

Kay

Bronte Parsonage Museum Guide. Haworth (pron. Horth) is well worth visiting.

The Brontes at Haworth – Ann Dinsdale

Thomas Hardy, the time-torn man – Claire Tomalin. This author also wrote

Jane Austen; a life. Her books are well-indexed and well-researched, but a perhaps bit too academic for the general reader.

Rachel

Lovesong – Elizabeth Jolley. Published in 1997. People on the sidelines looking after each other. Jolley published her first novel at the age of 56.

Eleanor

Batavia – FitzSimons  The story of the violent aftermath of a shipwreck. A Dutch East India Company ship is wrecked off the coast of Western Australia during a spice voyage. The author received a Queen’s Birthday Honour (AM) this year for outstanding contributions to sport and literature.

Vicki

Mia culpa: confessions from the watercooler of life – Mia Freedman

Mama mia; a memoir of mistakes, magazines and motherhoood – Mia Freedman

The author is a well-known contributor to the Sunday Age. Mama mia is an account of her life in journalism. It is reminiscent of  Sushi for Beginners, by Keyes, with  descriptions of working in a fashion magazine. Social media – blog Mama mia, with Virginia Trioli. www.mamamia.com.au. This has a good section on books.

Ref. Vicki’s own blog  vickisc.blogspot.com. (Note: Vicki writes excellent book reviews on her blog. PM)

Diggers and Greeks – Maria Hill. Events of 1941 in Crete. Exhibition at the Shrine of Remembrance until Sept or Oct.

Ruth

Blood, bones and butter – Gabrielle Hamilton. She was a rebellious child, but eventually fiinds her true calling in running a restaurant, The Prune Restaurant, NY.

Room – Emma Donoghue. A chilling scenario -  a five-year-old boy who has never experienced the outside world, and knows only the room he and his mother are trapped in.

Our woman in Kabul – Irris Macklin. ABC journalist. Clever, articulate, observant.

Pauline

Lily alone – Jacqueline Wilson. A gritty, realistic novel intended for upper-primary children. The oldest child Lily, aged 11, attempts to care for her three younger siblings when their mother departs on a holiday to Spain with her new boyfriend. Lily shows integrity, courage and responsibility, and after many vicissitudes and some quite harrowing moments there is a good outcome for all.

A load of old bones – Suzette A. Hill. A “caper” mystery set in 1950s Surrey. Our bumbling hero is the local vicar, victim of predatory parishioners and a chain of awkward circumstances triggered by an inadvertent murder. This is the first in a very entertaining series.

The children of Green Knowe – Lucy Boston. A child staying in a large old English manor house finds himself transported back to the past, and befriends  the children who lived in the house during earlier times.

The Green Knowe books have been adapted into a film, From Time to Time, starring Maggie Smith. Although some events are different, the film captures the essence of the books very well.

Meg Rosoff interviewed by Mike Shuttleworth

This event was held at the Wheeler Centre on Wednesday 4 May.

In his introduction, Mike Shuttleworth said that the excellent standard of Meg’s writing in books such as How I live Now and Just In Case has been an important means of raising our expectations of what Young Adult fiction can achieve. The Bride’s Farewell is on the Carnegie Medal shortlist this year.

Meg began by talking about, and reading from, her latest novel, There is no dog, to be published in August.

Meg has lived in Boston, New York, and now London. She studied at Harvard,  majoring in English Literature.

She spent many years working in advertising, which she said was the best apprenticeship a fiction writer could ever have. In writing advertising copy, she learned the technique of persuasive writing, to sell something to an audience which didn’t want the product in the first place. She learned to make every word count.

The ideal length for a YA novel is supposedly 70,000 words, but hers are always a lot shorter. After about 50,000 words, she finds that her stories are complete and she has said all she needs to say.

Notes on The Bride’s Farewell. To everyone’s surprise, this hasn’t sold well at all, although rated very highly by literary critics.

It is set in the 1850s. Meg researched the period in great detail, helped by her background in studying C19th English novels . She also mentioned studying the sentimental paintings done by artists during the 1880s , which show a vanished “idyllic” rural lifestyle from 40 years before.

In England in 1800, 90% of people were country dwellers, and by 1900 90% of the population lived and worked in towns. She is particularly interested in the mass migration that would have taken place during  this period;the empty buildings that would have remained, and examples of “freakish” Victorian women (dressing as men, being independent, etc) and other eccentrics. The Dogman in the story is based on a real-life present-day eccentric she came across, who lived as a poacher. Dogs and horses play an important part in this story. Meg owns two lurcher dogs, and is also a skilled horsewoman.

Mike spoke about the spare and simple style of the novel, and Meg agreed, saying that she had aimed for a “Quaker” simplicity, with little use of adjectives and adverbs.

Meg belongs to a storytelling group in London. They meet regularly in a pub. Each storyteller has 10 minutes to tell a story, and the story must be true. She has a blog, “My friend kills people”. www.megrosoff.co.uk/2010/10/25/my-friend-kills-people

Through the blog, she met an ex-soldier, Ray Hewitt, who had suffered bad psychological damage from the war in Afghanistan. www.megrosoff.co.uk/tag/ray-hewitt/He also writes a blog, and Meg was so impressed by his gift with words that she invited him to the storytelling circle, encouraged him to write more, and managed to find him a publisher for his memoirs. The power of storytelling has aided his recovery.  She believes that the story you tell about yourself defines who you are, and that you have the power to change your life. She talked about a girl  whom she admired and envied at school. This girl is two years older, and at school she was completely poised, and without a shadow of self-doubt. They met again after 35 years, through Meg’s blog, and she discovered that her old friend was still living in the same town, and had not changed or developed at all.

Meg’s writing fits in with her family life and other distractions such as Facebook, blogging, etc. Her husband is an artist, and her income from writing is an important means of support for the family. They have a holiday house on the Suffolk coast, with  no Internet, and she goes there when she needs to do some solid writing without distractions.

Meg suffered from cancer after her first book was published, and while working on Just in Case. She describes herself as a cheerful depressive, who always imagines that things will go wrong. She said that  it would never be possible for her to write a book with a terrible ending, because it would leave her feeling completely devastated.

More Book Reviews

The book of lost threads – Tess Evans. The author is a TAFE teacher and has studied creative writing at NMIT. This is her first novel, set in a mythical town somewhere in central Victoria.. She has created believable and interesting characters, many of whom are struggling to find their place in the modern world.
The Singapore school of villainy – Shamini Flint. The author lives in Singapore. She is a lawyer by profession and describes herself as a “failed stay-at-home mother”. Her serious writing career began when she produced some children’s stories for her young daughter. This is the third novel in her mystery series featuring the irascible and slovenly Inspector Singh, described by his superior officer as “a disgrace to the force”. He has the knack, though, of solving some really puzzling crimes. This novel is set in Singapore and the first two novels are located in Malaysia and Bali respectively.
The Diggers Rest Hotel – Geoffrey McGeachin. The author has set his novel in the Wodonga district during the early years of post-war migration. His hero is a police detective who is still suffering the effect of some bad experiences as a pilot during the war. The place and times are very well captured, and the author acknowledges the generous help he received from the local Historical Society

Book Reviews

Jeannie Gunn – We of the Never-Never.

I re-read this after visiting the Elsey Station cemetery on our trip to Darwin. Many of the people mentioned in the book are buried there.  Jeannie arrived as a bride in 1902. The property was 1 ½ million acres in size, and the homestead was 45 miles from the entrance.  The “homestead” was little more than one single room, following a cyclone 5 years before. Unfortunately her husband became ill and died about a year after she arrived.

Before her marriage Jeannie had been a teacher at the family’s school, “Rolyat”, at 1 Creswick Street, Hawthorn. The Hawthorn Library has a photo showing Jeannie and the rest of the Taylor family gathered outside the building.

Hans Fallada – Alone in Berlin

This novel is set in Berlin during WWII. It shows the lives of ordinary  working-class individuals, some of whom have seen through the lies and propaganda, and for all of whom fear and betrayal are never far away. Otto Quangel is a factory worker whose only son is killed at the Front. This death triggers Otto’s heroic but ultimately futile attempts at resistance against the nazis.  The author himself lived through these times, and the book was first published in 1946.

Shamini Flint – A Bali conspiracy most foul

This is one of a series about Inspector Singh, a delightful rotund and untidy detective from Singapore, who is sent to Bali after the bombings to help the local authorities with their investigations. The author weaves an intriguing story around a second threatened attack,  Islamic practices, domestic violence, a murder, and the real events known to us all. In a recent interview the author said that she likes to touch on ethical and social problems in her fiction, and this is borne out by all the books in this series.

Book Lunch 16 April 2011

Pauline:

Spencer Quinn – Dog on it.

A detective story told by Chet the Dog, partner of a likeable gumshoe. There are three books in the series. Recommended.  www.chetthedog.com Chet also has a Facebook page, but some of the contributions are a bit silly.

Howard Jacobson – The Finkler question. A novel about British Jews and their friends, exploring what it means to be Jewish. Recommended.

Ann:

Peter Singer – Pushing time away. His Viennese Jewish family and their immigration to Australia. Enlightening and encouraging.

Vicki:

June Loves – The Shelley Beach writers’ group. A very enjoyable “hen-lit” novel set in western Victoria.

Kevin Telfer – Peter Pan’s first XI. A true account of  JM Barrie’s celebrity cricket  team, with members such as  Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, Conan Doyle, etc. Recommended. Also recommended  is A S Byatt – The Children’s Book, a novel covering roughly the same period in Britain.

Greg:

Anh Doh – The happiest refugee. An uplifting account of the voyage out and life in Australia.

David Lodge – Deaf sentence. A campus novel. Enjoyable. Also recommended – Nice work.

Kay:

Kay spoke about her Great-great grandmother, Amy Cail, who was on the goldfields selling groceries from a tent at the time of the Eureka rebellion. Her quick-thinking action saved Peter Lalor, who was wounded and fleeing from the authorities. She managed to hide him in her tent by lowering it to the ground with Lalor inside.( He later lost the wounded arm). Kay also recommended two excellent books on Eureka.  Eureka Stockade; a pictorial history, and The Eureka Encyclopaedia, which has a detailed entry for Amy Cail. *This information will be passed on to our sister group in Milwaukee.

Pauline’s note:The group mentioned the poems of C. J. Dennis as possible entertainment for our sister-group, but we would need to provide a detailed glossary!

Mark Twain’s travels in Australia were also mentioned.  I’ll do some research and bring the details to our next meeting. www.twainquotes.com

Nancy:

Robert Hillman – The boy in the green suit.  A book of rather unpreposessing appearance, which Nancy had to read for her “real” book group. To her surprise, she found it utterly enchanting. Highly recommended. Also by him (jointly with Najaf Mazari) The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif

John Burdett –  Bangkok 8 .Burdett is a former lawyer who is now a detective novelist. This is one of a series set in Bangkok, and features the Thai buddhist detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, an “honest cop”.

Allison:

Kingsolver – Lacuna

A novel, told posthumously from the journals of the central character, Harris William Shepherd, and set over 2 decades of his life, during times of revolution, war and fascism, and covering the McCarthy years. The boy proved to be an able asistant to the muralist Diego Rivera because he had learned how to mix dough for bread. A well-researched book. Recommended.

 

Pam:

Annie Proulx – Bird Cloud. An account of the building of her dream home in the wilds of Wyoming..

One critic is scathing about her lack of skill in project management! It’s not as good as her fiction, Pam says.

Alice Pung (ed) – Growing up Asian in Australia. Includes Ken Chau “The family tree”. His grandfather had possession of a family tree covering 28 generations, but only listing the men.

Barbara Nadel – A noble killing. Crime fiction featuring the detective Cetin Ikmen. Turkish honour killings. Recommended.

Jan:

Lisa Lang – Utopia man. A fictionalised biography of Cole of the Book Arcade. Not recommended.

McCall Smith – The Saturday big tent wedding. The latest in the Botswana series.

Charming. Recommended.

Jenny S.:

Kim Edwards – The memory-keeper’s daughter.

A novel about twins, separated at birth, with the mother believing that one has died. A very interesting and absorbing story. Recommended.

Book Lunch, 11 Sept 2010

Margaret:

R F Delderfield – The Avenue goes to war. One of a series, set in Shirley in the Borough of Croydon, south London. It gives a very good picture of life during wartime. Margaret’s friend Len used to live there and  knows all the places mentioned in the book. Kay has also read it and agrees that it is worth reading.

Pauline:

Jeannie Gunn – We of the Never-Never.

I re-read this after visiting the Elsey Station cemetery on our trip to Darwin. Many of the people mentioned in the book are buried there.  Jeannie arrived as a bride in 1902. The property was 1 ½ million acres in size, and the homestead was 45 miles from the entrance.  The “homestead” was little more than one single room, following a cyclone 5 years before. Unfortunately her husband became ill and died about a year after she arrived.

Before her marriage Jeannie had been a teacher at the family’s school, “Rolyat”, at 1 Creswick Street, Hawthorn. The Hawthorn Library has a photo showing Jeannie and the rest of the Taylor family gathered outside the building.

Hans Fallada – Alone in Berlin

This novel is set in Berlin during WWII. It shows the lives of ordinary  working-class individuals, some of whom have seen through the lies and propaganda, and for all of whom fear and betrayal are never far away. Otto Quangel is a factory worker whose only son is killed at the Front. This death triggers Otto’s heroic but ultimately futile attempts at resistance against the nazis.  The author himself lived through these times, and the book was first published in 1946.

Shamini Flint – A Bali conspiracy most foul

This is one of a series about Inspector Singh, a delightful rotund and untidy detective from Singapore, who is sent to Bali after the bombings to help the local authorities with their investigations. The author weaves an intriguing story around a second threatened attack,  Islamic practices, domestic violence, a murder, and the real events known to us all. In a recent interview the author said that she likes to touch on ethical and social problems in her fiction, and this is borne out by all the books in this series.

Rachel:

Alex Miller – Lovesong

A really well-constructed and well-written book, which holds the reader’s attention to the end.

Tess Evans – The book of lost threads

Rachel borrowed my copy after I had praised it last time, and said that she thought it “a load of rubbish”, with too many points of view and a wildly improbable plot. On the other hand, Vicki said she quite enjoyed it. Kay has now borrowed it, and we await her verdict with interest.

Eleanor:

Jeff Maynard – Wings of ice; the mystery of the polar air-race

A true story of the intrigue and mystery surrounding early flights over the poles.

Here is a short review from the Angus and Robertson website:  Hoping to resurrect his fading career, the legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen desperately wanted to fly over the North Pole. American naval commander Richard Byrd was determined to beat Amundsen to the prize. An Australian adventurer, George Hubert Wilkins, also joined the competition, initiating a rivalry with Byrd that would last years and take them to the ends of the Earth. The world watched in fascination as the air race to the North Pole escalated, until in May 1926 Byrd claimed to have reached it in his Fokker Trimotor, the Josephine Ford. But did he really succeed? In 1928, while Amundsen was involved in the bitter dispute that would cost him his life, Byrd announced he would fly to the South Pole. Wilkins was hired by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to beat him. The competitors unloaded their planes on opposite sides of Antarctica and prepared for the last great race in polar history.

The author is described as an adventure-historian.

Kay:

The Oxford book of Australian letters.

This is a collection of 200 representative letters, revealing life in Australia from the very early days to recent times. There is an index of writers and recipients. An excellent collection.

Kay also read extracts from private letters held by her own family, dating from the mid 1800s. These provide a fascinating glimpse into the past, and are currently being transcribed for posterity.

Vicki:

Stephen Dando-Collins – Captain Bligh’s other mutiny

A stirring acount of the Rum Rebellion of 1808, an armed take-over of government by the New South Wales Corps.

Vicki also recommended Rum Rebellion, H. V. Evatt’s account of the same events.

Jenny Davies – Beyond the façade; Flinders Street

A well-illustrated account of Flinders Street Station, including its office space, ballroom and retail premises, and the many activities that have taken place there over the years. Anecdotal accounts from users of the station and railway employees make very interesting reading. This book is a useful contribution to our understanding of the history and social life of 20^th Century Melbourne.

Adrian Franklin – Collecting the 20th Century

In this book, the well-known presenter from the ABC show, The Collectors, discusses each decade, and shows items from the time. All of us will  recognise, or possibly even own, many of the objects.

Pauline M.

Book Lunch 24 July 10

Rachel:

Corduroy Mansions – Alexander McCall Smith.

The book is set in Pimlico, but  there is no distinctive sense of “place”, and the characters are too similar to those in the 44 Scotland Street series.

Marg:

This body of death – Elizabeth George

A murder mystery dealing with the attack by two 10-year-old boys on a 3-year-old. Horrifying but very gripping.

East of time – Jacob Rosenberg

Reminiscences of a lost world – Poland before the Holocaust. “ a rendezvous of history and imagination”.

Helen L.:

Hot flash club – Nancy Thayer. A light, warm and enjoyable novel, with plenty for the over 55s.

Shadows on our skin – Jennifer Johnston. A story told from the viewpoint of an adolescent boy. Spare, evocative,warm. The setting is Londonderry.

Bronwyn:

Infidel – Ali. The autobiography of a Somali woman, brought up in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. She was married off against her will, and eventually sought asylum in the Netherlands.

Raising my voice – Joya  The author grew up in Afghanistan as a Muslim. She loves her country and her culture and tries to work for change from within.

Bronwyn spoke about the two very different ways in which these women have sought to give meaning to their lives. Both books are highly recommended.

Pam:

The night of the Mi’raj- Zoe Ferraris. A detective story featuring an investigation into the disappearance of a young girl. The story is set in Saudi Arabia. Good atmosphere.

Remarkable creatures – Chevalier. A novel about the real-life C19^th fossil-hunter, Mary Anning, who discovered some remarkable prehistoric life-forms, including ichthyosaurs.

Ann:

Venice, pure city – Peter Ackroyd. An interesting account of Venetian history. Venice had the first public bank, official loans system and opera house. Statistical methods were developed there, and it was a very early centre of printing.

Kay:

The surgeon of Crowthorn – Simon Winchester. The life story of a major contributor to the mammoth Oxford English Dictionary. The “surgeon” was an inmate of a mental institution at the time, after some very unlucky and traumatic events in his earlier years.

Also by Simon Winchester – The map that changed the world.

Shirley:

Mr Rosenbloom’s list; friendly advice for the aspiring Englishman – Natasha Solomons. A new immigrant, desperate to fit in, follows all the rules in the book and still doesn’t quite succeed. Amusing, touching, enjoyable.

Rocky and Gawenda – Michael Gawenda. The author lets his mind wander over many topics as he walks his dog. The book is based on the author’s blog.

Pauline:

The book of lost threads – Tess Evans. The author is a TAFE teacher and has studied creative writing at NMIT. This is her first novel, set in a mythical town somewhere in central Victoria.. She has created believable and interesting characters, many of whom are struggling to find their place in the modern world.

The Singapore school of villainy – Shamini Flint. The author lives in Singapore. She is a lawyer by profession and describes herself as a “failed stay-at-home mother”. Her serious writing career began when she produced some children’s stories for her young daughter. This is the third novel in her mystery series featuring the irascible and slovenly Inspector Singh, described by his superior officer as “a disgrace to the force”. He has the knack, though, of solving some really puzzling crimes. This novel is set in Singapore and the first two novels are located in Malaysia and Bali respectively.

The Diggers Rest Hotel – Geoffrey McGeachin. The author has set his novel in the Wodonga district during the early years of post-war migration. His hero is a police detective who is still suffering the effect of some bad experiences as a pilot during the war. The place and times are very well captured, and the author acknowledges the generous help he received  from the local Historical Society.

Kay mentioned these three useful book-related websites

www.fishpond.com.au

www.fantasticfiction.com.uk

www.bookfound.com

I also like www.goodreadingmagazine.com.au for news and reviews – and also for their great competitions. That’s how we won 10 copies of the Barbara Trapido book!

Book Lunch May 2010

Ruth

Broklyn follies – Paul Auster

Ruth says:

The writing is very good. So easy to read and yet Paul Auster doesn’t treat the reader as a simpleton. It’s serious, funny, joyful, philosophical, thought-provoking and very enjoyable

Hung out to dry – Peter Cuffley and Cas Middlemis

The life of Gilbert Toyne, the inventor of the first all-metal rotary clothes hoist. The book gives us an excellent picture of life in Australia between the wars. Of particular interest is the connection of Ruth’s family (McKirdy) with the inventor. Her father was a long-time employee of the firm, and was also a renowned innovator and inventor.

Pauline

Carte blanche – Carlo Lucarelli.

Italy, 1945, and Mussolini’s “house of cards” is about to collapse. The hero is an insomniac detective with no appetite, who has spent his working life  doing his duty as he sees it, with complete integrity, no matter which government is in power. “A simple man, doing the best job he possibly can”. Echoes of Hammett and Dibdin. Very enjoyable.

The weather in Africa – Martha Gellhorn.

Three intertwined novellas set in East Africa. The attempted integration of European outsiders.

Author note: Martha Gellhorn was once married to Ernest Hemingway. She was an intrepid journalist and war correspondent, covering conflicts throughout the world. She reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler, the Spanish Civil War,  the Vietnam war and the Six-Day War and continued reporting right up to the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s, when she had to concede that she was getting too old for active assignments.

Marg

The girl with the dragon tattoo – Stieg Larsson. An excellent thriller. Very exciting. Those who had seen the film enjoyed it, too.

Ann

Lovesong – Alex Miller. A beautifully written novel  with strong French and Tunisian connections. It  concerns an ageing novelist and his chance meeting and growing friendship with an Australian man, John, and his Tunisian wife, whose life story is gradually revealed to us.

Short stories – David Malouf. Many excellent stories, especially those set in WW II.

Pam

Jasper Jones – Craig Silvey. A second novel by the author of Rhubarb. “Innocence, yearning and coming-of-age”.

The other hand – Chris Cleave A novel dealing with the plight of refugees. “Part thriller and part social commentary”. It was published in the US and Canada under the title Little Bee.

Mosaic; a chronicle of five generations – Diane Armstrong. A family memoir told in  novelistic style. It gives a moving account of the lives of five generations of Jewish women, beginning in Poland in 1890.

Eleanor

Smithy – Ian Mackersey. An exciting account of a talented and daring pioneer aviator.

Eleanor also mentioned Charles Kingsford Smith and those magnificent men – Peter Fitzsimons.

Chocolate self-saucing pudding

This baked chocolate pudding is lovely on a cold winter’s day. Prepare the dry ingredients in advance and put the pudding in the oven as you are preparing to serve the main course.

Pudding Mixture

½ cup SR flour, ¼ tspn salt, 90 g. sugar, 1 tablespoon cocoa, ¼ cup milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Sauce

½ cup brown sugar, 1 rounded tablespoon cocoa, 210 ml very hot water

Method

Pre-heat oven to moderate temperature. Sift flour, salt and cocoa into a bowl. Stir in milk and melted butter.

Put sauce ingredients into a 1-litre casserole and stir. Put the cake mixture into the casserole on top of the sauce. It does not have to be spread evenly, as the cake will rise to the top and the sauce will remain beneath.

Bake for ¾ hour in a moderate oven. Serve with cream or icecream.

For a larger quantity double the amount of pudding mixture, but 1½ times the sauce mixture is enough.

Four times the quantity will make ample serves for 8 people.

Albi (Tarn), France

Albi (Tarn)

La Cité épiscopale d’Albi, la capitale de Tarn, et près de Toulouse, est en train d’être inscrit au Patrimoine Mondial de l’UNESCO.

C’est un ensemble urbain de brique exceptional, nommée brique foraine, qui ne se rencontre que dans le Midi toulousain.

La Cité est  formée autour du groupe palais-forteresse/cathedrale. La Cathédrale reste aujourd’hui la plus grande structure en brique du monde.

Ces grands bâtiments proclament le pouvoir, l’autorité et la pérennité de l’Eglise, suit á la croisade contre les “Albigeois” ou Cathars,  hérétiques qui se sont répandus dans le Languedoc.

Cette Croisade contre les Albigeois á durée vingt ans, de 1209 a 1229.

La cathédrale Sainte-Cecile est très importante. Les peintures aux voûtes ont 500 ans, et les fresques sont une véritable encyclopedie biblique. Ce sont aussi un page de mode vestimentaire des femmes d’Albi á cette époque.

Toulouse Lautrec est né à Albi. Au Musée Toulouse-Lautrec on peut voir ses peintures les plus importantes et plusiers de ses affiches.(Le Louvre a réfusé de les accepter, et ainsi sa mère les a donné á Albi, cité de sa naissance.).

Cathedral interior – video http://bit.ly/bRhFP5