{"product_id":"the-dominici-affair-murder-and-mystery-in-provence-hardcover","title":"The Dominici Affair: Murder and Mystery in Provence - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMartin Kitchen\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe spectacular murders of a distinguished British scientist, his wife, and their young daughter in the depths of rural France in 1952 prompted one of the most notorious criminal investigations in postwar Europe. It is still a matter of passionate debate in France. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Sir Jack Drummond, with his wife, Lady Anne, and their ten-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were on holiday on the French Riviera when they stopped to make camp just off the road near a farm called La Grand' Terre in Provence. The family was found murdered the next morning. More than two years later, the barely literate, seventy-five-year-old proprietor of La Grand' Terre, Gaston Dominici, was brought to trial, convicted, and condemned to death by guillotine. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e When Dominici was convicted, there was general agreement that the ignorant, pitiless, and depraved old peasant had gotten what he deserved. At the time, he stood for everything backward and brutish about a peasantry left behind in the wake of France's postwar transformation and burgeoning prosperity. But with time perspectives changed. Subsequent inquiries coupled with widespread doubts and misgivings prompted President de Gaulle to order his release from prison in 1960, and by the 1980s many in France came to believe--against all evidence--that Gaston Dominici was innocent. He had become a romanticized symbol of a simpler, genuine, and somehow more honest life from a bygone era. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Reconstructing the facts of the Drummond murders, \u003ci\u003eThe Dominici Affair\u003c\/i\u003e redefines one of France's most puzzling crimes and illustrates the profound changes in French society that took place following the Second World War.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMartin Kitchen\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian and the author of numerous books on European history. His most recent books include \u003ci\u003eSpeer: Hitler's Architect\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRommel's Desert War: Waging World War II in North Africa, 1941-1943\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 360\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.15 x 9.06 x 6.07 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 01, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51770705936672,"sku":"9781612349459","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/d8d93c3d7918bccb9a2b71ca3e3a457c.webp?v=1780377348","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-dominici-affair-murder-and-mystery-in-provence-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}