En Route

A Journey Through France in the Company of Great Writers

Peter Fiennes

From the Côte d’Azur to the cliffs of Normandy, along the banks of the Seine to the Alps, this is ultimate literary tour of France.

In this sparkling new narrative—traveling in a loop around France, from Le Havre to Paris—Peter Fiennes explores France’s sense of its own people, place, and identity through some of its greatest writers and artists. Moving between the centuries, from the Arthurian forests and Neolithic fields of Brittany to the banlieues of Paris, Fiennes follows the threads of history across France. And wonders what is next for this sublime, mysterious, and sometimes fractious country.

Fiennes drinks with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in the bars of Rouen and Le Havre, follows Edith Wharton’s Motor-Flight along the Loire Valley to the home of George Sand, and explores the beaches of the south with Colette and Katherine Mansfield. He lingers in Bordeaux with François Mauriac, canvasses the foothills of the Alps with John Berger and follows Colette to the trenches at Verdun, before finally heading to Paris, where he consigns Guy de Maupassant to an asylum and Sartre to his grave.

A paean to the glories of French literature, art, landscape, food, and wine, En Route is a heartfelt exploration of where the country finds itself after so many centuries at the center of European life.

Peter Fiennes is the author of the critically acclaimed Footnotes; Oak and Ash and Thorn; and To War with God. As the publisher for Time Out, he nurtured a lifelong obsession with old guidebooks, creating award-winning city guides, walking books, and titles about Britain’s countryside and seaside. He lives in London.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for Peter Fiennes’s Footnotes:

"As enjoyable a guide to the relationship of writers to the landscape of Britain as one could hope to read: beautifully written, moving in its reflections, and often very funny.” Tom Holland, author of Pax and Dominion

"This is not only a splendid, vigorous and amusing book, it is also important. On his travels with Enid Blyton, JB Priestley, Dickens and others, Peter Fiennes brilliantly assembles a vivid picture of that most elusive issue of the age, English identity.” Alistair Moffat, author of To the Island of Tides

"Fiennes is a perceptive reader and a good-humoured guide and his book offers a superb commentary on the connections between lesser-known places and writers. Footnotes is a passionate, partisan call for readers to take action before the British countryside may be encountered only between the pages of a book.” The Times Literary Supplement

"A funny and reassuring snapshot of our national identity.” The Daily Mail

"Honing his easy-going and often witty style in this new book, Fiennes takes us on the journeys of famous writers. There’s an infectious enthusiasm and self-deprecating authority to Fiennes’s insights and he’s a most agreeable companion. This one should be towards the top.” The Gaurdian

"Marvelously quotable. Fiennes’ literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book.” The Financial Times

"Part travelogue, part biography, part meditation on British identity, Footnotes is altogether delightful, and Fiennes is a wise and genial travelling companion.” Gregory Norminton, author of The Devil's Highway

"I didn’t really know that I’d been waiting for a more literary and stylish Bill Bryson to update Notes from a Small Island, but that’s just what Footnotes is, and I loved it.” The Observer