THE QUERCY LOCAL • 37
shows Saint Apollonaris, an early martyr, but surely it is a reference to the Greek God Apollo, the sun god. I became fascinated by the whole story of the River Dordogne, which I can just hear splashing over a ridge of stones, which form a set of rapids below the village. For five years a friend and I drove the length of the Dordogne in fits and starts, taking notes and photographs with the idea of writing a second book. This has now been published by Lulu.com, both as an e-book and as a paper-back, and is available from Amazon and other book distributors. My website, Valerie-thompson.co.uk gives more information on obtaining it. Again, I have illustrated it with line drawings and included hand-drawn maps, which enliven the text. I wrote about geology, geography, pre-history, the Romans, the Cathars, the Templars, the Hundred Years War, the landscape, legends, religious institutions, castles, churches, towns, villages, industry, what is on, in and over the river and who has lived in the vicinity, but I never dwell too long on any one subject but skip briskly to the next as there is so much to tell. The lovely cover uses a painting called “Fish and Fossil,” appropriate references for a book about the Dordogne, by Glyn Morgan, an artist with whom I worked and who visited my French home several times. One highlight of our researches was the exploration of the history of Brivezac (19120), the tiny village where I own my house. To discover that its abbey was of greater importance in the past than nearby Beaulieu, with its large and solid Abbatiale was a revelation. Published March, June, September and December each year. The Quercy Local • December 2018 - February 2019