Books set in Charente, France

Cognac country inland: Balzac’s Angoulême of poets and printers, Chardonne’s cognac families of Barbezieux, and a secret love at its lycée in 1984.

1 place, 3 books,

Charente

2017
Lie with Me Arrête avec tes mensonges
Philippe Besson · novel · 2017
1984: two boys’ secret love at the lycée in Barbezieux.
1934
Les Destinées sentimentales
Jacques Chardonne · novel · 1934
1905–1930: a marriage among the cognac families of Barbezieux and Limoges porcelain.
1837
Lost Illusions Illusions perdues
Honoré de Balzac · novel · 1837
1821: a poet and a printer in Angoulême, the high town against the low.

Updated October 2026