What I'm Listening to Now

Money, family ties, and cultural prejudices are the themes in L'Affaire by Diane Johnson, another comedy of social mores from a modern-day master, as multiple cultures collide at a French ski resort. One character perishes in an avalanche and his relatives come together to fight over who gets what. The attitudes of the French toward Americans and the British (and vice versa), are examined up close in this rarefied world. The continually contrasting points of view leaves the reader (or, in this case, listener) with continually shifting sympathies but completely engrossed. Not a sequel, exactly, to Le Divorce and Le Mariage, although there is a bit of overlap of characters. If Nancy Mitford was alive today, this is what she would be writing.