Miles and Milestones

View from the Arc de Triomphe to
La Défense, Paris, 1990s. (Author photo)

---

I swear the recurring travel theme in these posts is unintentional. With a book set in Paris, it’s inevitable, I suppose. Read on for a new poem and podcast episode, a wrap-up on my book’s recent overseas adventures, an upcoming author event (live and in person!), and more.

Dialogue

I’m thrilled that my poem, “stitch (in time)”, was selected for the new DIALOGUE feature in Vol. 2, Issue 3 of Pinhole Poetry. Bonus: It’s the second time my work has appeared in this publication, which is exciting not only because they’re Canadian but because the quality of their work is top-notch. I’m honoured to have been included twice.

Pinhole Poetry is a digital poetry journal that loves the upside-down view and the fact that some art can only happen in the dark. We aim to be the pinprick of light for your work.

From the Pinhole Poetry website

Exploring the Seasons of Life in Paris!

I had a fan girl moment when Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles asked me to be a guest on the podcast where she chats about all things French! 🇫🇷 And it was wonderful talking about comparing visits to Paris at various stages of life to the seasons of the year, as I wrote about for Inspirelle.

Please listen, and share with the France-obsessed people in your life. 🤩

End of the Road

That’s a wrap on my book’s mystery trip to Portugal and Spain. I never knew where it was going until I received another message, and although I’m not usually a fan of surprises, I’m really happy about this one. (Even if I WAS jealous.)

I put together a short reel of all its stops. Watch it on Facebook or Instagram!

Remember how my book (original cover edition) was travelling through Wales? It’s now reached the end of its journey, and in the most wonderful way.

It’s been donated to the charity toy and book sale taking place at Premier Inn London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 hotel in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital and Children’s Charity. All money raised goes towards the new children’s cancer unit, and the sale is by donation.

Exciting enough to watch from the other side of the world as it travelled by canal boat past lush countrysides and lots and lots of sheep, but this is just fantastic. Can’t top that.

Live From The Library

Event news! The Sidney/North Saanich branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library will be hosting me for an author talk on Saturday, November 25 at 2:00 pm. I’ll talk about Paris (of course) and archives (obviously), share some photos, read a few passages from Provenance Unknown, and have copies available for purchase. There will be lots of time for questions and chatting, too.

I keep having visions of no one showing up and me talking to a room of empty chairs 😆 😭 , so please share with any friends or family in the Greater Victoria area. It will be a casual, cozy get-together, and a great way to spend an hour on a dark, rainy November afternoon.

In Other Library News

Greater Victoria area residents, rejoice! You can now sign out the Provenance Unknown ebook from the Greater Victoria Public Library. Place a hold here.

Thanks also go out to the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library and Euless Library for making the ebook available to their patrons.

Bookstaversary

I almost forgot! September 28 marked exactly 6 months since Provenance Unknown was published. I know it’s not a long time, but that day meant so much, especially since it was my first book.

Sincerest thanks to my publisher, Sands Press, for saying yes to the story I’d carried around for over 10 years.

Les Bouquinistes

The French Ingredient, by Jane Bertch

The inspiring and delicious memoir of an American woman who had the gall to open a cooking school in Paris—a true story of triumphing over French elitism and falling in love with a city along the way.

When Jane Bertch was eighteen, her mother took her on a graduation trip to Paris. Thrilled to use her high school French, Jane found her halting attempts greeted with withering condescension by every waiter and shopkeeper she encountered. At the end of the trip, she vowed she would never return.

Yet a decade later she found herself back in Paris, transferred there by an American bank. She became fluent in the language, gradually earning the respect of her French colleagues as she excelled in her new position. But she had a different dream: to start a cooking school for foreigners like her, tourists who wanted to take a few classes in French cuisine in a friendly setting, then bring their new skills to their kitchens back home. Predictably, Jane faced nay-saying Frenchmen—how dare an American banker start a cooking school in Paris?—real-estate nightmares, and a long struggle to find and attract clients.

Thanks to Jane’s perseverance, La Cuisine Paris opened in 2009. The years since have been filled with triumphs and heartbreaks. Several times the school almost closed, thanks to the pandemic and terrorist attacks that kept tourists away. Now the school is thriving, welcoming international visitors to come in and knead dough, whisk bechamel, whip meringue, and learn the care, precision, patience, and beauty involved in French cooking.

The French Ingredient is the story of a young female entrepreneur building a life in a city and culture she grew to love. As she built La Cuisine, Jane learned how to charm, how to project confidence, and how to give it right back to rude waiters. Having finally made peace with the city she swore never to revisit, she now offers a love letter to France, and a master class in Parisian cooking—and living.

Published by Penguin Random House, it’s available for pre-order now!

As always, thanks for reading. Merci!

Sonia