In Bumpus’ travel memoir, curious Americans venture through Provence and along the Cote d’Azur.

The author has written two volumes of Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table about her travels and what she has learned about French foodways keeping families together. In those books, she got to know the people and their places well enough to coax out the recipes that defined them. Here, she offers something a bit different: the story of a trip to France that she and her sister promised each other they would take once their children were grown. In this narrative, Bumpus isn’t settling into one place and getting to know its people. Instead, she functions as something more like a typical American tourist, offering an inviting vision of Americans learning to enjoy themselves in new and unfamiliar surroundings (“suddenly an unexpected energy and exhilaration rose up and I realized, yes, we were at the threshold of our new adventure”). Bumpus seems to be mindful of readers who may feel intrigued—but a bit intimidated—by the thought of leaving their home turf to explore France; she describes chastising her husband (who doesn’t know much French) for buying beurre and jambon sandwiches…and then discovering that butter and ham make for a delicious combination. The author makes it clear that one can enjoy the beach at St. Tropez while wearing a modest swimsuit, and she recounts her group of friends making compelling discoveries even when their journey didn’t go quite as planned. Whether or not this works as a travel narrative—a story one reads just to savor someone else’s experience—depends on the reader. Those who identify with Bumpus and her companions may enjoy the interpersonal relationships she details as they explore France together, even though the dialogue seldom feels natural. Still, armchair travelers who have never considered a European tour will find the author to be a thoughtful guide who provides informative descriptions of the sites she visits.

A companionable travelog making France accessible to those for whom international travel is a novelty.

A cultural and gastronomic tour through Italy by train, car, and ferry with culinary delights at every turn.

Bumpus explains how a 1998 visit to Italy with her husband, Winston, inspired her Savoring the Olde Ways culinary travelogue series. Although this is the third and most recent volume, it is, in fact, the story of where her journey began. In Italy, she discovered that “traditional foods bring European families together in a manner not experienced in the U.S.—not only for holidays, but for every day of their lives.” While planning a trip to celebrate Bumpus’ retirement from her psychotherapy practice, she and her spouse fortuitously happened upon a rental ad for a Tuscan farmhouse. The owner, Lisa Young, helped them in their quest to fully experience the local culture. They arrived in the tiny village of Poderi di Montemerano on the first weekend of September, just in time to partake in the annual harvest festival, set to start on their very doorstep. The couple joined the revelers, winding their way down the mountain to the fairgrounds: “Smoke from the pits of braising meats tantalized us, along with the intoxicating aromas of simmering pasta sauces.” It’s an enticing beginning to an account of a month that took them not only through Tuscany, but also Compania, Apulia, and the Lazio region, where Rome is located. Much of this book is devoted to exploring the Etruscan and Roman ruins that defined the country’s early history. As a result, there are fewer family-centered stories than in the first two volumes, but there are still plenty of engaging cultural tidbits, both ancient and current. Of Poderi, for example, Young tells Bumpus, “people still have an affinity to their own regional cultures, traditions, dialects, and foods. That is what defines who they are.” Recipes, the book notes, are handed down through generations, and each family rigidly follows their unique methods of preparation. Elaborate descriptions of almost every meal and snack turn this compelling travel book into an enjoyable vicarious experience. Readers should make sure not to overlook the final section, which contains 19 mouthwatering recipes.

A joyous book of Italian history, traditions, and food that’s worth savoring.

This sequel offers French family stories—and recipes—from Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Normandy and Brittany on the Atlantic coast, the Loire Valley, and Auvergne.

With tape recorder and notepad in hand, Bumpus—traveling with Josianne, her French-speaking friend and guide—first interviewed Veronique for this collection. Veronique lived east of Dunkirk in the Monts de Flandres area, close to the Belgian border. Madame Pund, Veronique’s mother, served “her famous Potjevlesh”(meat pot), a Flemish specialty. Historically, the dish was prepared from leftover meats, such as “rabbit, chicken, and pork…all roasted with a lot of herbs.” Fearful of stirring tragic memories, the author cautiously asked Veronique whether her mother would mind talking about World War II. With Madame Pund’s permission, Veronique launched into the story of her father, whose family escaped the German bombings of Dunkirk. He was 9 years old when his mother and aunt decided to flee. With the men out fighting the Germans, his aunt, who did not know how to drive, became the designated driver. She “could barely reach the pedals…and didn’t know how to use the brake.” To stop the car, Veronique’s father would “jump out and put a block of wood in front of the wheels.” When German airplanes strafed the line of cars, they would “all jump into the ditch.” In Normandy, Bumpus visited the Cathedral of Our Lady in Bayeux, consecrated in 1077, to see the church where a 200-foot-long tapestry depicting “the entire story of William the Conqueror…woven into the cloth” originally resided. The author’s straightforward narrative delivers vivid imagery of both the surroundings and the people: “The air was crisp and sparkling as we drove along the beach”; Madame Pund “moved through the room with some discomfort yet carried herself in a regal manner.” As a poignant illustration of Bumpus’ belief that the trauma of war permanently changes lives, she introduces a French grandmother who had barely survived in Paris during World War II. Upon hearing of 9/11, the woman ordered 500 kilos of potatoes, just in case. All of the recipes discussed and sampled are included in this enjoyable work.

An engaging gastronomic presentation of French history and culture.

Bumpus (Recipes for Redemption, 2015, etc.) offers a travelogue packed with history and recipes.

In 2002, the author, a retired American family therapist, set out to discover what has held “European families together.” She found that by “focusing on a family’s favorite foods” in interviews, she could capture not only recipes, but key details of family history. This inspired this first book in a series on French and Italian family traditions and accompanying cuisines. Initially traveling with her husband, Winston, and Josiane Selvage, their French friend who served as their translator, Bumpus first went to Reims to visit their first local hosts, Martine and Jean-Claude Zabeé. In the text, she tours the ancient city and discusses the couple’s favorite foods, offers cooking lessons, and reveals local historical detail. A recipe for spinach tortellini, for example, came from Jean-Claude’s mother, who got it from a neighbor from Italy. The coal mines of the area, Bumpus notes, attracted workers from Italy, Poland, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Germany, transforming the area into a multicultural melting pot. Bumpus takes readers on an engaging tour of France’s northeastern regions, including Champagne, Alsace, and Lorraine, and she highlights the local festivities, customs, and food in each. Over the course of this book, Bumpus’ writing is perspicuous and economical, particularly when she shares conversations with her hosts: “They erupted into loud guffaws again as the invisible memories came crashing into our conversation.” The author’s discussions with locals, which make up a sizable portion of the book, are descriptive and successfully place readers in the midst of the conversations, as in this offhand description as Selvage’s friend Christine Lochert discusses doing laundry with her mother: “ ‘Yes, at a lavoir.’ Christine turned from the stove, rinsed her hands at the sink, and grabbed a hand towel before she continued.” The recipes, too, are enticing and detailed, and the book as a whole should appeal to Francophiles and ambitious cooks.

A culinary adventure that’s enhanced by familial and regional histories.

This companion cookbook to Bumpus’ novel, A Cup of Redemption (2014), provides recipes for traditional, rural French cooking, region by region.

Bumpus offers this slender cookbook as a companion to her multigenerational saga of a French family coming to terms with their history and sense of identity amid years of violence, war, and betrayal. In the novel, Bumpus’ characters make it clear they are less interested in haute cuisine than in cuisine pauvre, or traditional peasant cooking, and Bumpus uses regional destinations from the novel to provide a sampling of rustic French culinary delights. The cookbook itself is a kind of pastiche of excerpts from the novel— recipes apparently gleaned from Bumpus’ own experiences traveling through France and recipes and advice adapted from some of her favorite French cookbooks, as with her “Omelette aux Champignons et au Fromage,” which hails from the Auvergne region. While an omelet or a quiche is a fairly easy accomplishment for a novice cook, several other recipes lack detailed instruction and appear geared toward those with more adventurous pallets and advanced culinary skill sets. As you might expect from rustic French cooking, ingredients tend to include quite a lot of game and offal; and in many ways, what makes this collection so interesting and worthwhile—the emphasis on local, rural, retro cuisine—may also make it best suited for advanced cooks rather than curious beginners. For instance, an Alsatian recipe for “Baekheofe” instructs the reader to simply marinate lamb, beef, and pork in wine overnight with some herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper, then layer meat and potatoes and some vegetables along with goose fat in a terrine, placing a pear and possibly some pigs’ feet on top before sealing with pastry. Another recipe for “Boudin Blanc” takes the reader into the realm of charcuterie, advising the cook to push the white sausage mixture into a cleaned intestine.

An interesting survey of traditional regional French cooking for intermediate to advanced cooks and fans of Bumpus’ novel.

In this debut novel, a woman undertakes a road trip around France in an attempt to shed light on her family’s mysterious, troubled past.

In 2001, Sophie Zabél Sullivan, a Frenchwoman living in California, gets word that her mother, Marcelle, is near death. Upon arriving back in France, Sophie only has a few moments with her mother, who encourages her to seek out the identity of her grandfather—the father that Marcelle never knew. However, this is far from the only mystery in the family: Sophie’s two brothers, Thierry and Gérard, were both born out of wedlock during the World War II era. Sophie, meanwhile, is haunted by a sexual assault that she suffered at the hands of an elderly relative, suffers from depression, and is troubled by a recurring nightmare she doesn’t understand. Aided by her American friend, Kate, and using some of her mother’s old journals and family correspondence, she traverses France, interviewing family members and old acquaintances, looking for the answers that she and her siblings need in order to heal. As this multigenerational family saga of war, violence, and betrayal plays itself out, the two friends offer each other emotional support, and the trip proves cathartic for all involved. Along the way, the friends indulge in the French foodie obsessions that first brought them together while also taking in the history and folklore of the regions they visit. Bumpus does a remarkable job of capturing the nuances of the French landscapes and culture and of evoking the wartime occupation of France (“Beaten-down women with exhaustion etched into their eyes carried infants swaddled in mud and blood-spattered blankets”). Although the narrative can be a bit sentimental at times—even inducing compassion fatigue on occasion—Bumpus still manages time and again to strike at the emotional hearts of her characters to reveal their weaknesses and niggling vulnerabilities, as when Kate meets the grown daughter she gave up for adoption and later worries that she might have been disappointed with Kate’s weight.

A robust, entrancing debut.