Résumé
Résumé de Mon ami le chauffeur
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who love sunny travel stories, quick comic dialogue and old-fashioned romance, and anyone who enjoys seeing Italy, Venice and the Adriatic coast through the windscreen of an early motorcar.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
A small pink advertisement in a Riviera newspaper sets a gray Panhard rolling toward the Adriatic. My Friend the Chauffeur is a comic road romance by C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson, told in turns by five people who each see the same trip differently. A Scottish editor, a sharp girl playing thirteen, her titled mother, a girl bound for a convent and the driver himself all take a turn. Along the way come mountain passes, broken gears, Italian lakes, Venice and a very persistent Austrian prince. Beneath the laughter runs one quiet question about seeing the world before leaving it.
Dans ce résumé
- 1An advertisement fills a garden with callersFree
- 2Terms are tricky to pin down over lunch
- 3A bet over luggage and a rival car
- 4Mountain roads, a towed prince and a faithful dog
- 5Beechy explains her life and starts playing dolls
- 6Over the pass, through Cuneo and on to Milan
- 7Lake Como and a birthday on the water
- 8Maida sees Verona, Venice and the edge of Dalmatia
- 9What the trip is really about and how it is told
Point clé 1 sur 9
An advertisement fills a garden with callers
Ralph Moray edits a small Riviera newspaper and worries about his best friend, Lord Terence Barrymore, called Terry. Terry has lost his money and plans to sell his beloved Panhard car and go off to farm in Africa.
Ralph has a plan. He places an advertisement in his own paper in which an English titled motorist offers to take American ladies to picturesque corners of Europe. Terry reads it aloud in Ralph's garden, laughs at the foolish advertiser, and then spots the address at the bottom. His language is not fit for the weather.
Then Mrs. Kidder of Denver sweeps in with her sharp daughter Beechy and her niece Maida. Terry takes revenge by saying the car belongs to Ralph, and Mrs. Kidder promptly mistakes him for the chauffeur. Ralph, pleased with his scheme, resolves to keep Terry from falling in love with the silent Maida.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Mon ami le chauffeur
What is My Friend the Chauffeur about?
It follows a Scottish editor's scheme to help his penniless friend Terry, who drives three American ladies in his own car from the French Riviera across Italy toward Dalmatia, with a persistent Austrian prince always close behind.
Who tells the story?
Five people take turns: Ralph Moray, then young Beechy Kidder, then her mother the Countess, then Maida Destrey, and finally Terence Barrymore. Each voice has its own humour and sees the same trip from a different side.
Why is Terry called the Chauffeulier?
It is Beechy's private name for him. She builds it from chauffeur and a title, because she wants him to have something grander than his job while she admires his looks, his driving and his kindness.
When is the story set and is it a true story?
It is a work of fiction set in the early days of motoring, when roads were rough and few people owned cars. The places, such as Venice, Verona and Ragusa, are real, and the travel detail is vivid.
Is the book easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that it has quick chatter, short scenes, lively voices and plenty of jokes. Each of the five narrators speaks plainly, and the road moves the story along from one lovely place to the next.