Happy Hour

In a place where people dare to be alive, the narrator finds euphoric freedom beyond her dreams — but she also finds that paradise has a very dark side indeed.

Happy Hour is the moving and witty account of an English woman who realizes her dream of leaving her life, her secrets, and her private grief behind her to buy into a piece of paradise — Castel, a small town in the Pyrénées, where the quality of light, the magnificence of the scenery and the vibrancy of the Catalan culture have tempted artists and tourists for decades.

It is a place of mystery — of darkened doorways defying brilliant sunshine — which entraps every visitor.

Yet the Catalan people are notoriously cautious of outsiders — and there are some mysteries that they do not want to be solved, including the myth surrounding Rennes-le-Château, the place where the Holy Grail was said to be found by a priest.

This splendid evocation of life on the borders of France and Spain has at its centre the rich and lively characters whose energy adds to the joie de vivre of their setting.

We meet the big-hearted patron, M. Nadal, who protects the old Catalan customs and keeps the town’s secrets, the rivalrous chefs at the gourmet restaurant whose owners would rather die than lose their Michelin star, the disarmingly alluring Colette, who runs the Café des Arcades, escaping a turbulent past in Pigalle’s backstreets.

The town pulses with dramas, rumours, rivalry, fiestas, concerts, dances and feasts while the old men in black berets sit drinking under the cool plane trees, playing pelote.

Patrice Chaplin is an author, journalist and playwright. She first visited the city of Gerona, in Spain, when she was 15 and it was then that she learnt about the Grail mystery. Throughout her life she has maintained an active interest in the history of the Grail and has lived in Spain and France. She has published more than 36 books, plays and short stories.

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