Originally published in a very limited printing in England in 1951, this enchanting rediscovery is set in a small villa among the dunes of Le Toquet. It is the story of two energetic, mischievous and sensitive children and their encounters with a privileged set of adult visitors who are in Normandy for the season and who could well have stepped out of a novel by P.G. Wodehouse. This magical novel, which takes place between two world wars, will remind readers of Dodie Smith’sI Capture the Castleand Gerald Durrell’sMy Family and Other Animals.
Michael Burnwill be 95 whenChildhood at Oriolis released. As a reporter forThe Times, he covered both the abdication of Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, and the faked Hungarian trial of Cardinal Mindszenty.
Michael Burn depicts the sun setting over a childhood in a place soon to be in ruins.
Burn will be 96 when Childhood at Oriol is released. He was a prisoner of war in WWII, a reporter for The Times of London, and a mussel farmer in Wales. He published numerous books of non-fiction, several novels and 5 books of poetry. His autobiography, Turned Towards the Sun, was published last year in the UK by Michael Russell.
![Childhood at Oriol [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/9/0/7/2_208471.jpg)