Laurette Long

Laurette was born in West Yorkshire and grew up breathing the same air as the Brontë sisters. She fell in love with ‘exotic’ France aged 13 on a school trip when, like the local village ladies, she and her penfriend strolled out to the boulangerie to buy the morning ‘baguette’ while still in their pyjamas and dressing gowns. It was there she had her first crush, on the tobacconist’s son, he of the bad-boy haircut and bold black eyes. Not surprisingly, she studied English Literature at University and after graduating began a teaching career in the UK and the US before moving to Toulouse, SW France. Here she worked with adults whose motivations for studying the language of Shakespeare ranged from passing advanced exams to launching rockets. She met a lot of people in the vibrant ‘pink city of space’, learnt many new things (though not how to launch a rocket), had a great time, wrote a best-selling textbook,translated a work of literary criticism, and fell ever more in love with la belle France. In 2011, moving from the buzz of France's fourth city to a hilltop hamlet in Cathar country, she began her dream of writing a romantic family saga set in her adoptive country. The books are published as the French Summer Novels: 'Biarritz Passion', 'Hot Basque' and 'The Passage of Desire'. 'Biarritz-Villa Julia', the series finale, came out in February 2019. When she’s not writing or reading, Laurette can often be spotted lurking near a lavender bush brandishing secateurs. She’s proud to have turned a hill of brambles into a Mediterranean garden, now home to hundreds of bees, butterflies and the neighbour’s cat. It’s in this corner of paradise that she and her partner can sit and watch the sun go down and listen for the song of the nightingale in May. She publishes a regular blog about her various passions-reading, writing, nature and life in France, and is always delighted to chat with readers https://laurettelong.com/