the ceiling that started it all
About The France House
Bienvenue! Welcome to The France House, a newsletter about making a second home and a (more) creative life. It was launched in June 2022 by award-winning writer, essayist, and author Megan Harlan.
How it started: While locked down in their San Francisco Bay Area home during the Covid quarantines of 2020, Megan and her partner bought a historical house in the medieval town of Dinan, Brittany — without stepping foot in it. The France House reveals their family’s subsequent experiences living in two homes, cultures, and countries.
Who it’s for: Lovers of France and travel, art and inspiration, writing and other creativities, architecture and interior design, history and how its cultural imprints live on today, what builds and sustains a good “quality of life,” and choosing the unexpected path.
A Tour of The France House
Start with a brief introduction here and then check out the first five pieces: Dream House, Search, Heart of Town, The Castle Anecdote, and No Renovations.
All posts are free-of-charge and new pieces are sent to your inbox if you sign up below. Your subscription is very much appreciated and allows The France House to grow. Thank you!
About Megan
Megan Harlan is the author of Mobile Home: A Memoir in Essays (University of Georgia Press, 2020), winner of the both AWP Award Series and the Independent Book Publishers Award for Creative Nonfiction, and Mapmaking, awarded the Ciardi Poetry Prize. Her writing has been cited as distinguished in Best American Essays, awarded the Arts & Letters Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and published in AGNI, The New York Times, River Teeth, Crazyhorse, TriQuarterly, Los Angeles Review, Poetry Daily, Colorado Review, The Smart Set, Hotel Amerika, and elsewhere. She works as a writer, editor, and educator, and lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area and Brittany, France.
Photos
Unless credited as Creative Commons images or used, in the case of a review, under the Fair Use clause, all photos are copyrighted to Megan Harlan and The France House.
Contact
Say hello on Instagram @megan.harlan. Or get in touch via The France House’s Facebook Page.
Megan in The France House (“the forest room”)