Gallic gadabouts publish book on bungalow

What American tourist, traveling on local roads and stumbling upon a charming village in rural France, hasn’t dreamed of buying property there and settling down?

Professors of English Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden have realized that dream and now have written a book about it as well, entitled “A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France.” (University of Wisconsin Press, $24.95).

The pair will give a free public reading sponsored by the International Institute Thursday, Sept. 26, at 4:30 p.m. at the Pyle Center.

Unlike other Americans who sigh and move on, these two seasoned travelers followed their dream in 1985, bought a small stone cottage in the shadow of a medieval castle in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, and made it their summer home. The home is along the banks of the Dordogne River in the Périgord region of southwestern France.

“A Castle in the Backyard” is an account of the ins and outs of home buying and housekeeping thousands of miles from home. Draine and Hinden also offer up plenty of history and culture of the region, where tourism and development are challenging the Périgord’s graceful way of life.

In addition to scholarly writing, they have translated and edited “The Walnut Cookbook” by Jean-Luc Toussaint, a tome of recipes involving a basic ingredient of cooking in the Périgord.