The Chateau Author:William Maxwell One of our greatest practitioners of the art of fiction gives us a sage and luminously observed novel of Americans abroad. In 1948, battered France is just beginning to receive its first American tourists since the war. Perhaps it is not ready for them; or perhaps they are not ready for France -- for although Harold a... more »nd Barbara are enchanted by the small perfections that greet them at the Chateau and are tolerant of the lack of such amenities as sugar and hot water, there is much that bewilders them. Is their gallant hostess flirting with Harold? Will they ever win approval of the impeccably connected M. Carrere and his forbidding wife? Can American eagerness and goodwill ever decipher the ancient codes of French civility? In a voice by turns rapturous and ironic, William Maxwell creates an astute and affectionate portrayal of the meeting of the two cultures.« less