KEN MCADAMS
Ken McAdams "Bon Courage" Just Books Event at Arcadia Cafe June 9 @ 7PM
BON COURAGE
Rediscovering the Art of Living in the Heart of France
Ken McAdams
Illustrations by Marian 'Bing' Bingham
Two years and one home-renovation from hell into their marriage, Ken McAdams and Marian 'Bing' Bingham, head to the French countryside in an effort to renew their sanity and to celebrate their long-delayed honeymoon. Their destination: an off-season two-month rental tucked in the small village of La Montagne Noire (the Black Mountain) not far from Toulouse.
BON COURAGE (Moyer Bell/Beaufort Books/June 2010/$22.95) is the story of that trip - one that extended way beyond two months and would change their lives in a way that two people already a ways down the road of life could not possibly have imagined.
Upon arrival at La Montagne Noire, a village off the beaten tourist path, Ken and Bing strive to leave their past baggage behind and begin their new life together while pursuing their individual passions. Ken, a former airline pilot and business executive, writes full time and Bing already an acclaimed artist, finds inspiration in the surrounding lush landscapes and further hones her craft.
In time the village captures their hearts, which leads to them buying yet another wreck that needs massive renovations. Little did they anticipate what lay at the end of that rainbow.
McAdams' recounting of the mishaps and misadventures of their daunting renovation and how it begins to threaten their new marriage forms the center of the book. Misunderstandings lead to knock downs, but fortunately not knockouts. Picking themselves and their relationship back up, the project ultimately brings Ken and Bing closer to each other and to finding a place in the community they have grown to love.
McAdams concisely captures the essence of French village life, the awkwardness of being foreigners in a close-knit town and the struggles they face to fit in. We too come to know the inhabitants: the shopkeepers, the gypsies across the street, the shadowy figure known only as - L'agent secret, the elegant Madame Fontaine who bravely fought with the Resistance, Michel Bond the owner of the Brasserie and an (unwitting) "Fascist" and other villagers who come to embrace Ken and Bing as two of their own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ken McAdams is a graduate of Yale and a former Marine Corps Naval Aviator who broke four world records and received decoration as the first civilian volunteer to fly Marines into Iraq. Pan Am's youngest Divisional Chief Pilot, he was later appointed national Transportation Safety Board investigator and became Chief Operating Officer KIWI International Airlines before retiring to write full time. He lives in Greenwich, CT and France.
BON COURAGE
Rediscovering the Art of Living In the Heart of France
Ken McAdams
Illustrations by Marian 'Bing' Bingham
June 2010
$22.95 Moyer Bell, an imprint of Beaufort Books
ISBN: 978-1-55921-398-1
