Languedoc-Roussillion (not forgetting the Midi-Pyrenees and Aquitaine) are the regions of France most settled by English expatriate colonists. Caroline Conran has spent much time there since the early 1970s and her collection of recipes reflects years of travel, conversation, cooking, eating and drinking. Here she concentrates upon this single region of Languedoc which curls up from the Spanish border along the Mediterranean coast as far as the Rhone valley. This is not polite France, this is 'in your face' France; it's history buried amidst the Crusades and Cathars, its towns and cities -...

Robbie is lonely at home with his parents in the Port of Arlen, his father is strict, his school is brutal and he lives in a world of his own, an imaginary place in which he is a detective, finding out secrets. When he gets a pair of binoculars, this world expands to show him a place full of shadows, of mysteries and of menace. He has to face difficult challenges, fight for what he thinks is right and stay loyal to those he loves.