Annie Sinigalia

The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a witty way: 1 - Childhood, 2 - Adolescence, 3 - Virginity, 4 - Marriage, 5 - Adultery, 6 - Divorce, 7 - The Single Woman.

The Fenouillards (Sophie Desmarets and Jean Richard are the parents, Annie Sinigalia and Marie-José Ruíz are the daughters) are shopkeepers with higher aspirations. The Monsieur wants to run for mayor of their town, but the family acknowledges he has little experience of the real world -- and so they all take off to experience it together. After starting out by getting lost, the family goes through an odyssey that takes them to Brazil, the Antarctic, and Japan in a series of episodic adventures.

We follow Ronsard to the Loire Valley, listening to him evoke his loves through odes and sonnets. Thus, Cassandre, Marie d'Angevine, Hélène de Surgères come back to life for a few moments for us. This evocation does not forget the friendship between Ronsard and another great poet of the 16th century, also born on the banks of the Loire, Joachim du Bellay. It takes us to the castles of Blois and Taley, to the manor of La Denysière, to Couture, Ronsard's birthplace, and to the priory of Saint-Cosme-les-Tours, where the poet died.

The same day of their marriage, Jean's wife dies of a strange ailment in the middle of surgery. Afflicted by the loss, the young man abandons his medical studies and takes refuge in the memories of his time of courtship. At the same time that this happens, a wave of murders shakes the city with the same pattern of behavior: the victims are surgery students whose bodies have had both hands amputated.

The pragmatic, reserved and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth.

Ulysses and his crew struggle against the divine entities that rule the universe, the ancient gods from Greek mythology.

Annie and Peter Mayle decide, in their own words, to take the plunge: they quit their jobs as a tax investigator and an advertising executive and move to Provence in the south of France. Their first month goes from outstanding to downright puzzling: while they adore the food and wine, they encounter amusing cultural barriers.