Le livre des coeurs

Okay, I know I said the other day that I’d found the perfect bookshop in Najac, but now I have discovered une librairie encore meilleure à Puycelci.

The best things about the bookshop in Najac were (a) books available for sale in French and English and (b) it was also a lovely tea shop.

The shop in Puycelci has neither beverages nor books in English (trust me, I looked), but, bloody hell, it is exactly what anyone who’s ever dreamt of owning a bookshop would want it to be. Floor to ceiling shelves of books.

Oh, and, mon dieu, look at this!

A table and two chairs under the main window (with a phenomenal view) where customers (or perhaps just friends of the owner) can sit and have a game of draughts (pieces in the drawer) or, if you brought your own pieces, chess. How lovely is that?

Oh, and what’s that on the windowsill?

It’s a copy of Patrick Poivre d’Arvor’s Les enfants de l’aube with a gold heart pasted on to the cover…

… and the pages inside skilfully turned to…

… reveal the distinct outlines of three hearts!

And when I comment on how marvellous the heart book is, the owner tells me she did it herself and proceeds to show me how you can get started.

Incroyable!