Each year I make a point of reading at least a book in French and one in Spanish, so I don’t lose touch with either language. This year my French choice* fell on a 1926 novel by Henri Mazuel-Dupuy, Le Joueur D’Échecs – that is to say, The Chess Player.

I had never heard of Mazuel-Dupuy until I read this review on Movies, Silently. The story of hussars and automata seemed quite intriguing in its absurdity, and I have a thing for Polish history… But alas, because of region coding, there is no way I can watch the movie, so I contented myself by doing a very small amount of research. Continue reading →