Dictation or the Course of True Love

A brand-new English translation of Antoine Laurain’s heart-warming romantic comedy about an estranged couple who must come together to rescue their son’s grades.

French schoolchildren all do weekly dictations; they're deep in the national psyche. Could they have the power to restore the nation's strained relationships?

8-year-old Benjamin's parents, Pauline and Pierre, don't really have fun or even talk much anymore; they can hardly see the point in staying together these days. But then, Benjamin's scores in his weekly dictation tests take a sharp nosedive, and it's all hands on deck to save their child's education and the family reputation.

Pierre consults former colleagues and brings perfectly chilled Chablis in to help, while Pauline ropes in an eminent friend and elderly member of the Académie Française to lend a glamorous hand to their efforts to improve their son’s scores.  Her plan crystallizes around their traditional, end-of-term summer picnic in the famous Parisian park of Buttes-Chaumont. How better to celebrate the end of school and start of the summer than by having everyone do one last, great dictation? And what better dictation for all the picnickers to attempt than the legendary text composed by Prosper Mérimée for the Emperor Napoleon?

In this soufflé-light tale of love and grammar lost and regained—perfect for fans of Muriel Barbary and Emily in Paris—Antoine Laurain is, as ever, the surest guide to what really matters in life. Which is perfect spelling - of course...