Le Forum - Your French bookshop in Australia

Rosie is not alone in her growing apprehension towards Australia's involvement in a war. Like many mothers, she feels helpless as her sons are swayed by the relentless pull of mateship' and are lured by the sense of adventure' awaiting them in another continent. While yearning for news from them in Northern France, Rosie grapples with the changing reality that war is placing on women on the home front. Women are increasingly the fabric of the community and Rosie shoulders her share of responsibility with grinding work at the factory. She also discovers women working for a common cause at an industrious Red Cross parcel drive, converging at a controversial peace rally and embroiled in the conscription debate. Each has a story to tell.A Woman's War takes us into the life of a mother during the Great War. It provides a unique and intimate perspective of how she and other women of her inner-city, working class community endured an incredibly difficult period of Australia's history and exemplified to future generations how to face hardship. This poignant and insightful story reveals tribulations and tragedies not talked about by the generations of women who followed them.

Decrypting french ideas about land, food, privacy and language, this book encompasses observations and anecdotes, political analysis and reflection to uncover links between the french national character, the essence of france and how the french got to be the way they are.

The book we've all (certainly every woman between 25 and 75) been waiting for. Classy, chic, convincing, funny, wise, well-written and very timely. It's the ultimate non-diet book, which nonetheless shows us how to eat with balance, control and above all pleasure. Chuck out all the radical diet books, think about what you eat and why, and then enjoy eating the right things (and some of the wrong ones) intelligently, and in smaller portions. Eat, like a French woman, with your head not your stomach. Guiliano, French-born and bred, gets the tone absolutely right. She succeeds in that rare high-wire act of being really serious about her subject but without taking herself too seriously; manages to encourage and inspire and amuse, without being bossy or earnest. This is a book that will make you laugh out loud and yet have you following several of her practical precepts within days - everyone who reads it becomes evangelical (French women don't go to the gym, they climb the stairs-). It combines just the right balance of memoir, wisdom, wit, delicious recipes, and French common sense.Guiliano emphasizes the virtues of freshness, variety, personal taste, enjoyment and, above all, portion control (research shows that dishes served in US restaurants are 25 per cent larger than those served in restaurants in France!).

 

In 1800 François Péron, an ambitious young medical student not long released from the French revolutionary army, gained a place as an assistant zoologist on Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australian waters.