Normandy: The Scenery & Romance of Its Ancient Towns, Part 2

Gordon Home wrote this travelogue in the early 20th century, when Normandy's ancient towns still bore the weight of centuries undisturbed by modern tourism. This second volume carries readers through Evreux with its cathedral of colliding architectural centuries, into Lisieux where timber-framed houses lean toward one another across narrow streets like old friends sharing secrets. He walks the ramparts of Falaise, birthplace of William the Conqueror, and stands before the stone where King Henry II knelt for absolution after Thomas Becket's murder. Home's eye catches the particular quality of light on Norman stone, the way villages cluster around their churches, the satisfying solidity of half-timbered walls weathered to silver-gray. This is travel writing that refuses to hurry - each town receives the attention of someone who understands that architecture accumulates meaning slowly, that walking the same streets as William the Conqueror or Richard the Lionheart leaves traces. For readers who dream of France beyond Paris, who want to taste the Normandy of cathedral towns and market squares and castle ruins grown comfortable with age.