En Route- A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers.jpg
En Route- A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers.jpg

En Route: A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes

from $11.98
Hardcover:

Pack your bags and your library card—En Route follows twelve of France's greatest writers from the cliffs of Normandy to the streets of Paris, revealing a nation's soul through the loves, rivalries, and restless wanderings of the people who wrote it into being.

Author Joanna Pocock calls it "masterful," praising how it captures both the sparkling magic of the Mediterranean and the brooding clouds of northern France—essential reading for fans of Graham Robb'sThe Discovery of France*.*

Rent new hardcover on Trove: $11.98 - Each rental copy can be rented for 30 days. If you love the book and decide to keep it, the remaining balance applies.

Buy new hardcover on Trove: $29.95

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About the book:

In En Route, Peter Fiennes sets out on a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris, tracing the country's history and identity through the writers who shaped how it sees itself. Along the way he moves from the Arthurian forests of Brittany to the banlieues of the capital, following centuries of French thought and art.

Fiennes drinks with Sartre and de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre, and retraces Edith Wharton's motor tour of the Loire Valley to George Sand's door. He wanders the southern beaches with Colette and Katherine Mansfield, and sits with François Mauriac in Bordeaux before climbing into the Alps alongside John Berger.

The journey ends in Paris, where Fiennes brings Guy de Maupassant to his final asylum and Jean-Paul Sartre to his grave, closing the loop on a story that spans centuries. Along the way, he asks what comes next for a country that has sat at the center of European culture for so long.

Part travelogue, part literary biography, En Route is a rich, wine-soaked tribute to French landscape, food, and letters—and a clear-eyed look at where the country stands today.

Pack your bags and your library card—En Route follows twelve of France's greatest writers from the cliffs of Normandy to the streets of Paris, revealing a nation's soul through the loves, rivalries, and restless wanderings of the people who wrote it into being.

Author Joanna Pocock calls it "masterful," praising how it captures both the sparkling magic of the Mediterranean and the brooding clouds of northern France—essential reading for fans of Graham Robb'sThe Discovery of France*.*

Rent new hardcover on Trove: $11.98 - Each rental copy can be rented for 30 days. If you love the book and decide to keep it, the remaining balance applies.

Buy new hardcover on Trove: $29.95

________________________________

About the book:

In En Route, Peter Fiennes sets out on a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris, tracing the country's history and identity through the writers who shaped how it sees itself. Along the way he moves from the Arthurian forests of Brittany to the banlieues of the capital, following centuries of French thought and art.

Fiennes drinks with Sartre and de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre, and retraces Edith Wharton's motor tour of the Loire Valley to George Sand's door. He wanders the southern beaches with Colette and Katherine Mansfield, and sits with François Mauriac in Bordeaux before climbing into the Alps alongside John Berger.

The journey ends in Paris, where Fiennes brings Guy de Maupassant to his final asylum and Jean-Paul Sartre to his grave, closing the loop on a story that spans centuries. Along the way, he asks what comes next for a country that has sat at the center of European culture for so long.

Part travelogue, part literary biography, En Route is a rich, wine-soaked tribute to French landscape, food, and letters—and a clear-eyed look at where the country stands today.

  • Publisher: Pegasus Books

    Title: En Route: A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers

    Author: Peter Fiennes

    On Sale Date: July 7, 2026

    ISBN 13: 9798897101016

    ISBN 10: N/A

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $29.95 USD

    BISAC: Travel / Europe / France

    Page Count: 368

    Dimensions: 9 in H x 6 in W x 1.3 in T

    Weight: 1.1 lb

  • Peter Fiennes is the acclaimed author of Footnotes, Oak and Ash and Thorn, and To War with God. As the former publisher of Time Out, he spent years producing award-winning city guides and books on Britain's countryside and coastline, cultivating a lifelong fascination with old guidebooks and the stories tied to place. He lives in London.

  • Pre-release readers are calling it richly immersive, meticulously detailed, and unflinchingly candid:

    • Early readers describe En Route as richly immersive, saying it pulls you straight into the daily lives, retreats, and rivalries of twelve major French literary figures.

    • Reviewers point to Fiennes's exhaustive research, especially his vivid retracing of Maupassant's Breton travels and his account of Katherine Mansfield's illness-shortened career.

    • Readers note the book's frank handling of the writers' personal lives—their loves, unconventional relationships, and health struggles—alongside their literary work.

    • Several early reviewers single out Fiennes's account of Edith Wharton's wartime work at Verdun as one of the book's most moving passages.

This book is for you if:

  • You love travel writing that doubles as a literary pilgrimage, retracing the real footsteps of the writers who made a place famous.

  • You're drawn to books that explore a country's identity through art and biography rather than straight history.

  • You enjoyed Graham Robb's The Discovery of France or Parisians and want another richly researched tour of the country.

  • You've always wanted to follow Sartre, Colette, or Wharton through France and need a guide as curious as they were.

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