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Michael Jenkins (1) (1936–2013)

Auteur van Een huis in Vlaanderen

Voor andere auteurs genaamd Michael Jenkins, zie de verduidelijkingspagina.

3 Werken 141 Leden 6 Besprekingen

Werken van Michael Jenkins

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A charming story about a young boy visiting his French relatives for the first time over the summer. This is an enchanting summer of warm days and green grass. He describes his aunts and uncle and cousins and how they welcome him to their home so openly. Set in the 1950s this is tenderly written.
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CarolKub | 5 andere besprekingen | Jun 14, 2019 |
Bittersweet reminiscences of an adolescent summer spent in the country among "the aunts" and their neighbors outside a small village in the north of France, a few years after the end of World War II. Each chapter is a reflection on one individual who shared and contributed to that life-changing summer. It's not a cheery, care-free sort of memoir, but what an absolute treat to read.
Reviewed in 2011
 
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laytonwoman3rd | 5 andere besprekingen | Sep 30, 2016 |
Michael Jenkins's stint as Ambassador to the Netherlands was the crown on a life-long career in the Foreign Office, many postings of which were served in Europe. It was therefore with some interest that I picked up this small book, A house In Flanders.

The book consists of some 10 chapters, each devoted to one of Jenkins' aunts. While no particular geographical reference is given anywhere in the book, it seems quite clear that the House mentioned in the title of the book is not in Flanders. What a bummer!

The books consists of the author's reminiscences of a summer spent with the French branch of his family in his youth. This might have resulted in an interesting book if the reader could learn something about the time and culture of that place and that locality.

However, the book is nothing but a tedious read about these grumpy, old relatives of Sir Jenkins. It lacks freshness, not surprisingly, being the memoirs of a summer written half a century later. It bored me to death.
… (meer)
½
 
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edwinbcn | 5 andere besprekingen | Oct 3, 2011 |
When the young Michael Jenkins is sent to the house of some "aunts" in Flanders for a summer just after the war, aunts whom he has never met and who aren't really biological aunts, the shy, introverted pre-teen might be forgiven for feelings of trepidation. What unfolds, however, is an experience which gives him a sense of deep roots with these wonderful women (and an "uncle") and which gave this reader a few wonderful hours of reading.

His writing of this extended stay is luminous and certainly profoundly loving. He grows in every way conceivable, from height to self-confidence. I think the ground is laid for his later work as an ambassador, as this one and the next invites him into their confidence. Welcomed into their home, their lives, and into the life of the nearby village, this summer is one of those watershed moments we are sometimes fortunate enough to experience in life; a time which changed everything for him. How lucky for us that Michael Jenkins put pen to paper about all of it.… (meer)
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tiffin | 5 andere besprekingen | Jul 19, 2010 |

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Statistieken

Werken
3
Leden
141
Populariteit
#145,671
Waardering
3.9
Besprekingen
6
ISBNs
33
Talen
3

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