Event

Thad Carhart: Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France

Presented by Peninsula Arts & Letters and Kepler's Books

Tuesday, June 21, 2016
7:30pm

Seating Area opens at 6:30pm
Kepler's Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025

If you're captivated by the French way of life, are an avid armchair traveler, or have ever fallen in love with a place you want to visit over and over again, you won't want to miss an evening with Thad Carhart as he tells us the story of his discovery of Fontainebleau. A beguiling memoir of a childhood in 1950s Fontainebleau from the much-admired New York Times bestselling author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank.

For a young American boy in the 1950s, Fontainebleau was a sight both strange and majestic, home to a continual series of adventures: a different language to learn, weekend visits to nearby Paris, family road trips to Spain and Italy. Then there was the château itself: a sprawling palace once the residence of kings, its grounds the perfect place to play hide-and-seek. The curiosities of the small town and the time with his family as expats left such an impression on him that thirty years later Carhart returned to France with his wife to raise their two children. Touring Fontainebleau again as an adult, he began to appreciate its influence on French style, taste, art, and architecture. Each trip to Fontainebleau introduces him to entirely new aspects of the château's history, enriching his memories and leading him to Patrick Ponsot, the head of the château's restoration, who becomes Carhart's guide to the hidden Fontainebleau.

The son of an air force officer, Thad Carhart grew up in a variety of places, including Washington, D.C.; Fontainebleau, France; Minneapolis; Amherst, Massachusetts; and Tokyo. After graduating from Yale, he worked for the State Department as an interpreter. He's also the author of "The Piano Shop on the Left Bank" and "Across the Endless River".

This event is free but please register here.