The Book Cove

Sometimes the nicest things come in little packages. In honor of Olivia de Havilland’s 100th birthday, the publisher re-released a book she wrote in the 1960’s called  Every Frenchman Has One.  In the early fifties, after a failed marriage and a child, de Havilland visited France where she met a man, fell in love and married, and subsequently moved to Paris. The book is a collection of short sweet articles about adjusting to life in a new country and culture. Not an easy thing to do, even if you’re a famous movie star. The pages are filled with de Havilland’s delightfully self-deprecating wit. She navigates the choppy waters of learning a new language by throwing herself headfirst into lessons often with less than stellar results. “Then there was the day I shook my professor. I’d been on a household shopping excursion and had been rather dismayed by the high cost of things. Well I don’t know if you see much difference between  matelot  and  matelas , and ...