Gill Baconnier is not the first author to write about Aix-en-Provence in 1902, or indeed of Paul Cézanne's connection with the city. The photograph of the impressionist painter's studio there is taken from Cézanne à Aix en 1902 by Jules Borély.
I do not know whether that work assisted her in her researches for her new book, Charlie Travers, Time Traveller Operation Cézanne but, since she is an old friend of Salut!, am happy to draw it to wider attention.
This is how Gill - Gigi in her comments posted here and before that when I wrote a blog for The Daily Telegraph from Paris - describes it:
It's a time-travel book set in Aix-en-Provence in ... well, it starts in 1902 but our hero gets a bit lost, as you do, and finds himself in all sorts of odd places.
It's not a "deep" book - more of an Enid-Blyton-meets-Doctor-Who adventure, aimed at children going on holiday to Aix-en-Provence with their parents, so they'll have something fun and informative to read. Here is the blurb I wrote:Sometimes, 12-year-old Charlie Travers wishes he’d never been born a Time traveller. He never goes anywhere exciting, his mum makes him eat horrible food she brings back from the Middle Ages - and he’s still rubbish at history.
Then Charlie receives a mysterious plea for help from the past and when his parents take him back to Aix-en-Provence in 1902, he’s rather hoping he’ll find out who sent it. He has no idea he is about to embark on a breath-taking journey through Time, where kidnappers, dinosaurs and a stolen painting will be the least of his worries…
And if you toddle along to check out the book at Salut!'s Amazon link - by clicking here - you will find this customer comment: "this book is so full of fun. Well written and full of humour alongside real historical facts. A must read for children and parents alike."
Salut! wishes the book and its author well, and leaves you with the following image of Aix-en-Provence in or just before 1902. It is one of many historical postcard views that can be found at the notrefamille.com
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