Recently when we visited Lourmarin I read in a brochure from the Tourist Information Office that Albert Camus, a writer and philosopher from Algeria, was buried in the Lourmarin cemetery. I am not that familiar with French writers but was vaguely familiar with his name. Our friends were French and knew his work well so we set off for the cemetery to visit his grave.

Most French cemeteries are surrounded by walls and there are always cyprus trees growing in them.

 Porcelain flowers like these are found in them too. They never wilt.

 A view as you enter the cemetery.

 This is the tomb of the wife of Camus. She was a pianist and a mathematician. Camus didn’t believe in the institution of marriage but married her anyway and then wasn’t faithful. They had a set of twin children.

 And here is his rather humble tomb. He died in a car wreck three years after he received the Nobel Peace Prize in literature for his writing against capital punishment. My French friends said I should read his book, The Stranger, but having looked it up on Google it looks a little depressing so I’m not sure if I will. It’s always interesting to me to get glimpses into past lives of famous French and French history. I know so little.