You are here: home > fiction
Review by
Anything Considered
An action adventure novel mixed with the good life in the South of France
Luciano Bennett is an Englishman—his Italian mother gave him his unfortunate first name, causing him to go simply by Bennett—is living in the South of France in a friend’s house. A bachelor with a taste for the good life, Bennett is without a viable means of support and is managing to support himself on the last of his savings.
With expensive taste he decides to take drastic steps to find work. He advertises in the International Herald Tribune under the clever headline "anything considered" and promptly receives a number of replies all but one of which he discards. The one he chooses comes on expensive stationary and obviously warrants investigation.
Armed only with his curiosity, he ventures forth to meet his potential employer, a wealthy Brit named Julian Poe who has a Japanese manservant named Shimo, who apparently does more than the usual valet for Mr. Poe. The job Poe has in mind for Bennett seems simple enough. Bennett is to assume Poe’s identity by living the good life in Monaco for tax purposes.
Once Bennett takes the job, he soon finds Poe has ulterior motives for having Bennett in Monaco. The story enlarges to include seedy underworld figures from Italy, a beautiful woman named Anna from New Jersey, who happens to be good with hand to hand combat. She makes Bennett an unwilling partner in a caper of her own. And the story races to a dramatic climax, complete with the French police outfitted with helicopter, courtesy of the French Air Force.
Mayle is an artful storyteller but his first passion is the South of France and describing the best restaurants and the best cuisine and wine they serve. "Bennett had eventually decided on an old favorite, Le Mas Tourteron, a substantial stone farmhouse on the road below Gordes, its cooking and its courtyard an irresistible combination…. They were greeted in the courtyard by the smiling husband of Elisabeth, the chef, who showed them to a corner table where their closest neighbors were geraniums."
He also paints charming pictures of the French and expatriate Brits that populate Bennett’s world. Of Bennett’s housekeeper Georgette, he says, "Georgette was a what the French would gallantly describe as a woman of a certain age, somewhere in that mysterious period between forty and sixty. She matched the furniture in the house; low, heavy-set, built to last. Her brown, seamed face was set in an expression of disapproval."
The monks in a monastery near Haute-Provence, where Bennett and Anna take refuge from pursuers, are particular colorful expatriates. "‘We are all fugitives from the world of business,’" said Father Gilbert. ‘I myself used to work for Banque Nationale de Paris. Others have come from Elf Aquitaine, IBM, the Bourse, Aerospatiale. We hated corporate life. We loved wine. Fifteen years ago, we pooled our resources and bought the monastary, which had been empty since before the war, and we became monks.’ He winked at Anna. ‘Rather informed monks as you can see.’"
If you like the South of France and you love reading about the good life while being drawn into a good action adventure story, Anything Considered is a must read.
|
i