A literary pilgrimage to James Baldwin's home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. What began as a search for a vanished house became a meditation on solitude, hospitality, and what it means to make room for another person.
Tag: fiction
A Rich Life: F. Scott Fitzgerald, the French Riviera, and the Things that Matter
On September 15, 2026, almost exactly a century after F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald spent a season on the French Riviera, I ordered a Great Gatsby at the bar of their former home. It seemed the appropriate thing to do. The cocktail arrived in a large glass beaded with condensation, pale gold and effervescent, crowded …
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On the Hill with Beatrix Potter
There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.― Beatrix Potter It happened again last night. Around four in the morning, in that porous hour where the mind has loosened its grip, I woke to find my mother sitting at the end of my …
The Time Before, with James Herriot
The grandfather clock in the entryway of James Herriot’s home kept time. Tick, tick, tick - as if nothing had changed. The sound filled the narrow hall, brushing against the faint smell of wool coats and polish. Light from a small window pooled on the patterned floor tiles, catching a thread of red from the …
