In and out of Three Normandy Inns

In the summer of 1892, Anna Bowman Dodd and her companion Charm set off from Havre for the Normandy coast, seeking the France that exists off the beaten tourist path. Their base is Villerville, a fishing village so picturesque it feels invented, and from there they wander through three distinct inns, each one a window onto a different Normandy. Dodd writes with the keen, affectionate eye of someone who truly sees: thePropriétaire who doubles as philosopher, the village children who become their guides, the particular quality of light over cliffs that Monet would soon make famous. This is travel writing before tourism existed as we know it, when foreignness was still genuinely foreign and a journey to France felt like an expedition. The prose fizzes with small adventures, cultural missteps rendered with humor, and the particular pleasure of finding oneself beautifully lost in unfamiliar streets. What emerges is a document of pure delight in discovery, two women navigating a foreign world with wit and wonder.