Literary Caen and the Channel Ports

Thursday morning, 27th July 2023. The research project on slow tourism for the Channel ports is still very much in Step 1, the Library Stage. The earliest step in our process methodology using the book for travel researchers. In the last few days, though, a literary connection with the city of Caen has begun to emerge. It's exciting enough to report here on Travel Writers Online. Using dialogue journaling a trustworthy link has been established with a fellow blogger, Claude at the blog Livres d'un jour. Claude had published a review of a detective novel, Canicule sanglante (2022) by Pierre Guinot-Delery (b.1949).  The title would translate as The Bloody Heatwave. The review starts like this:

"The city of Caen is suffocating under the effect of a heat wave. One morning, the body of the vice-president of the chamber of commerce and business leader is found dead in front of the courthouse."

That was enough to make me order a copy from Amazon. It's due to arrive in mid-August.

In true dialogue journaling research, I asked Claude further questions, and in the evening of 25th July 2023, a very promising answer came back through the Comments on the blog:

"Good evening, François-Michel Dupont's books evoke the streets of Caen. He should be releasing a book soon. In 2019, there was Aurora Clerc's book, Nocturnal Affairs whose action takes place in Caen.

The Shadows of the Quayside

I continued with the citizen science approach, this time through another social media platform, Facebook, and have now established a connection with François-Michel Dupont. Yes, his novels do take place in Caen. When you look for his books in England, even on the big bookselling platforms, his novels are difficult to find and even more difficult to buy. Eventually, I found a second-hand seller on Amazon who can deliver one title called Les ombres du quai (2017) by 11th August, so I have placed my order this morning (27th July 2023). Amazon present the book as if it were a CD or DVD, so let's see what unfolds from this purchase. Here is the link to see what I mean

From the Back Cover

Again the publisher's description of François-Michel's book was enough to make me buy. I am hoping to find some named streets as the story unfolds.

In the port of Caen, comfortably seated on the deck of his boat, Captain Philippe Pesqueur tastes the tranquillity of this sunny end of the morning and the fragrant flavours of a triple beer. The telephone vibrates: the body of a child has just been discovered in the grey dust of the quays... Following his novel, Memory at Close Range, François-Michel Dupont takes us on a thrilling new road movie, from Caen peninsula to Finistère"

It will also help me understand what is meant by 'the port of Caen'. I know the river Orne runs almost like a canal, about a block or two behind the railway station. Here is a photo from the window of the Ibis Styles hotel, looking north up towards the old city:

18h22, 15th September 2021, the River Orne, Caen from Ibis Styles Hotel. Photo: C. Mansfield.

For Francophone readers, here is the full text of my earlier research on literary space in French cities. It is free to download from ResearchGate

Simenon's DCI Maigret in Caen

While you are waiting for your French polars to arrive you'll be pleased to learn that Penguin have re-issued a short story set in Caen within a larger collection of stories. They have been re-publishing all the old Maigret detective novels, as my readers will know from my post on Rowan Atkinson 

This short story, though, hides the fact that the action unfolds in the city of Caen, its title is 'The Old Lady from Bayeux'. Let me quote from the opening to whet your appetite:

This was in Caen, at the time when Maigret had been sent there to restructure the Flying Squad. He was not yet accustomed to that harsh and secretive region and felt he had a lot less leeway than in his office at Quai des Orfèvres. This note still baffled him: Family matter... extreme caution..."

The author himself, Georges Simenon spent time in Ouistreham and then Caen in autumn 1931 travelling on board his boat the Ostrogoth. In November 1931 Simenon took the Ostrogoth up into Caen to sell the vessel. Today's literary detective can imagine then that the Caen in the short story is the town of the early 1930s. This is why, for literary explorers, contemporary novels like those of François-Michel Dupont promise such as exciting renewal of those 'secretive regions' for us to explore.