Amour: How the French Talk about Love

Description

A timeless, universal meditation on the meaning of love, inspired by the author's travels through France Award-winning journalist and documentary maker Stefania Rousselle had stopped believing in love. She had covered a series of bleak assignments, from terrorist attacks to the rise of the far right. Her relationship had fallen apart. Her faith in humanity was shaken. She decided to set out alone on a road trip across France, sleeping in strangers' homes, asking ordinary men and women the one question everyone wants to know the answer to- What is love? From a baker in Normandy to a shepherd in the Pyrenees, from a gay couple estranged from their families to a widow who found love again at 70, Amour is a treasure trove of poignant and profound stories about love, accompanied by beautiful full-colour photographs.

Stefania Rousselle is an independent French-American video journalist and documentary film-maker based in Paris. Her work includes short documentaries on terrorism, the European debt crisis, the rise of extremism and immigration. In 2016 she was part of a team of New York Times journalists who were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. That same year, she was on the team of journalists who were awarded the Overseas Press Club's David Kaplan Award for their coverage of the ISIS-led terrorist attacks in Paris. She was a Visiting Scholar at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and holds an MA in history from Paris-Sorbonne University.

This is one of the best things I have read for a very long time. These wonderful stories really bring out what is important in life * Guardian reader response * These stories make my heart ache * Guardian reader response * Coming back to this again after re-reading it and finding it just as moving the second time - if not more so. Thank you Stefania Rouselle for this gift. * Guardian reader response * These are beautiful, heart-rending stories of small, great truths * Guardian reader response * This is exceptional photojournalism. Wonderful * Guardian reader response * These short stories and accompanying photos capture the human spirit with raw honesty * Guardian reader response * Beautiful. Made me cry a little. Thank you for such honest, diverse and open stories * Guardian reader response * Will restore your faith in the world * New York Post * A collection of more than 80 (...) intimate and heartfelt confessions of what love means... each with a wonderfully expressive colour portrait. Some are illustrated with additional photos by Rousselle, revealing an unerring eye for colour, composition and the unexpected beauty to be found in the mundanity of life, reminiscent of William Eggleston's images... Taken as a whole, these frank statements reveal a diverse account of love in the 21st century * Guardian *