One of my favourite books to read in the summer is Rumer Godden’s The Greengage Summer. This is a coming of age story, set in rural Northern France, during a long hot summer.
The family in the novel visit Rouen, before travelling further south, through Normandy. On the surface the novel is lush and summery, filled with ripe fruit, rivers and gardens. But underneath the idyll is tension, secrecy, and danger. These give the novel its unsettling reputation.
The image of the greengage is perfect for the novel. As we have discovered, sometimes our fruit has a little visitor at its heart - “the worm in the bud”.
On our current visit to Normandy the trees are full of greengages, it has been a very good year for this fruit.
I love cooking with greengages, so we are going to try and take a few home with us. I hope they travel well, as I would love to make the Hairy Bikers late summer pudding with them.
I was fascinated to learn that in France the greengage is called La Reine Claude in honour of the French Queen Claude (1499-1524), Duchess of Brittany. The fruit is also called la bonne reine for the good queen.
Whatever the fruit is called it is certainly very delicious and we are delighted to be taking some home with us!
