Scent of a Truffle Book Signing - Saturday February 7, 12-3pm
Please join us in the shop this coming Saturday, February 7, from 12-3 pm for a book signing by French author and painter Cecile Ganne . Cecile has a studio in our building upstairs (Sowa 450 Harrison) and just published her debut novel "Scent of a Truffle" which she will sell and sign copies of at the event.
20% of all in-store sales that day will be given to an organization that supports immigrants rights and needs in Minnesota, such as the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund or the Minnesota Immigrants Rights Action Committee.
About the book:
If you were enchanted by the sensory magic of Chocolat by Joanne Harris, the pastoral nostalgia of AYear in Provence by Peter Mayle, or the elemental beauty of Paolo Cognetti’s The Eight Mountains, you’ll be swept away by Cécile Ganne's Scent of a Truffle: Mischief and Legacy in the Dordogne Valley
The book weaves a rich, earthy portrait of Calignac, a sun-drenched French village whose limestone cliffs and elusive truffles evoke a deeper, timeless legacy —a place with more than a few secrets. And for Adèle Montfort, the village’s aging matriarch, her ancestral land and way of life is increasingly under attack. With her health fading and her granddaughter Mathilde growing distant, she’s determined to pass along nature’s hidden wisdom before it’s too late. When a power-hungry mayor threatens the village's historic fabric and heritage pilgrimage sites, Adèle faces more than a bureaucratic battle to save what's truly valuable.
Written with luminous prose and a painter’s eye, this novella is a sensuous ode to the earthly treasures that lie just beneath the surface and a love letter to a vanishing way of life and a call to preserve our most cherished roots.
About the Author:
Cécile Ganne is a French-born writer, painter, and professor whose life bridges two worlds: the ancient rhythms of the Dordogne Valley and the creative hum of Boston’s art scene. Raised in a village nestled between the Lascaux caves and Rocamadour, she grew up painting with her grandmother and hunting truffles with her grandfather on misty winter mornings. Cécile holds a Ph.D. from Boston University and now teaches French language and literature at Wellesley College. When not writing or teaching, she can be found in her SoWa Boston’s South End studio.
Scent of a Truffle is her début novel.
She recently received the 2025 People’s Choice Award with Readable Feast, a program of the The Food Voice.
Key Themes: French gastronomy & truffle terroir (Périgord/Quercy) | Travel & sense-of-place storytelling | Legacy, family, and the ethics of land | Contemplative slow living
We hope you will join us!