The Free Frenchman. Piers Paul Read. 2013. Read is an excellent writer, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of his novels on a best seller list, but most readers are probably familiar with Alive: the Story of the Andes Survivors and maybe Alec Guiness: the authorized Biography. I have also read the novel, The Death of a Pope. This family saga was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. (Actually, this has been a summer of “best” books!) Bertrand, is the son of conservative, Catholics from Provence. He falls in love with Madeleine, the daughter of his mother’s childhood friend whose father is a free thinking, communist professor. This is story of their lives and loves, fortunes and misfortunes from before WWI until after WWII. I had never read anything about the social and cultural aspect of this period of French history, so I found the details fascinating. The book is filled with honorable and dishonorable civil servants, Communists, academics, priests, gangsters, Spanish refugees, Resistance fighters, and English soldiers. The love stories are good too! ( )