Revue de presse
"'More diverse than the usual Brit transplant to that ideal place in France, Rosemary Bailey's account takes in monastic history and a marital situation which might paint a grin on the faces of the hipper reader...Sweet book'" (TIME OUT on LIFE IN A POSTARD)
Présentation de l'éditeur
Rosemary Bailey is the bestselling author of LIFE IN A POSTCARD, her enthralling account of living in a small village in the French Pyrenees. Now she sets off in search of The Man who Married a Mountain. The 19th century explorer and mountaineer, Henry Russell combined a wild Irish spirit and thirst for travel with a typically French attachment to his own region. He climbed every mountain and revelled in nature's extremes; fierce tempests, coruscating sun and dazzling snow. Vignemale, a mountain in the French Pyrenees, inspired his passion above all.
In the course of her quest Rosemary Bailey finds not only Russell but an entire cast of 19th century visitors, striding up the glaciers in tweed jackets and hobnailed boots. English, Americans, Russians and many others, from Tennyson to James Gordon Bennett, colonised the Pyrenees as they did the Riviera, in search of the sublime, the picturesque and the beautiful.
Accompanied by her young son Theo, Bailey visits all the romantic sights of the Pyrenees between the gentle shores of the Mediterranean and the wild waves of the Atlantic; astonishing waterfalls, lakes and valleys.
Bailey weaves together Russell's story with her own experience of the Pyrenees, living in a converted monastery and sharing her life with the dreamers, hermits and city escapees who still find refuge in this magical land.
Quatrième de couverture
Life in A Postcard was Rosemary Bailey's bestselling memoir of living in a small village in the French Pyrenees. Now she sets off in search of the man who married a mountain. The nineteenth-century explorer and mountaineer, Henry Russell, combined a thirst for travel with a typically French attachment to his own region. He climbed every mountain in the Pyrenees and revelled in nature's extremes; from fierce tempests to dazzling snow. Vignemale, the highest mountain in the French Pyrenees, inspired his passion above all.
In the course of her quest Bailey finds not only Russell but a whole cast of nineteenth-century visitors, striding up the glaciers in tweed jackets and hobnailed boots. English, Americans, Russians and many others, from Tennyson to Flaubert, colonised the Pyrenees in search of the Sublime, the Picturesque and the Beautiful.
Accompanied by her young son Theo, Bailey visits all the romantic sights of the Pyrenees between the gentle shores of the Mediterranean and the wild waves of the Atlantic; discovering astonishing waterfalls, lakes and valleys.
Bailey weaves together Russell's story with her own experience of the Pyrenees, living in a converted monastery and sharing her life with the dreamers, hermits and city escapees who still find refuge in this magical land. The Man who Married a Mountain is a celebration of the beauty and history of the Pyrenees, a wonderful way of life and some remarkable adventures.
Biographie de l'auteur
Rosemary Bailey was born in Halifax, Yorkshire. She has lived in the French Pyrenees for seven years. Her previous book, the bestselling Life in a Postcard, also published by Bantam, describes her life in a mountain village and her attempts to restore a Romanesque monastery. Her account is skilfully interwoven with the poignant history of the monks and villagers who once lived there, adding a rich vein of history to a personal and contemporary tale.
Bailey has been a travel writer and journalist for many years. In 1997 she wrote the acclaimed Scarlet Ribbons: A Priest with AIDS, the story of her brother, Simon Bailey, and the remarkable support he received from his Yorkshire mining village parish. Bailey is married to the biographer Barry Miles, and has one son, Theo, who plays his own part in this book.
