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"My Good Life In France"


Théière
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Here are a few comments that seem very positive

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35059009-my-good-life-in-france

I may be unduly cynical but what turns me off at the moment is that 1) I don't know may people who can just do things at a whim as the author suggests and 2) I have read too many of these stories which turn out to be a list of local artisans coming and going and taking the authors money whilst poverty is claimed.

Perhaps Chancer should write a book. ATM I will await your comment rather than paying for the authors lifestyle.

NB1 I remain aware that you, Chancer, do carefully consider before doing things.

NB2 Please don't fly in and say how you just "did it at a whim". Go write a book at a whim!

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I think that I will dump down the sample to my Kindle and have a whimsical read [blink] Then if I like it it will splash out 2 beer tolens and buy it?

Just as a matter of interest TP, you ain't getting rid of me that easily mate [6] I still intend to be here or near [:-))] I joined well before we moved to France and I intend staying..

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I think that I will dump down the sample to my Kindle and have a whimsical read [blink] Then if I like it it will splash out 2 beer tolens and buy it?

Just as a matter of interest TP, you ain't getting rid of me that easily mate [6] I still intend to be here or near [:-))] I joined well before we moved to France and I intend staying..

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[quote user="richard51"]I may be unduly cynical but what turns me off at the moment is that 1) I don't know may people who can just do things at a whim as the author suggests [/quote]

 

One grey dismal day, Janine Marsh was on a trip to northern France to pick up some cheap wine. She returned to England a few hours later having put in an offer on a rundown old barn in the rural Seven Valleys area of Pas de Calais. This was not something she'd expected or planned for.

Janine eventually gave up her job in London to move with her husband to live the good life in France. Or so she hoped.

 

Nothing in the above suggests doing anything "on a whim", an impulse purchase perhaps but there can be very very few people alive that havn't done exactly that at some time or another, usually when something seems really cheap (I did exactly the same as her).

 

The use of the word "eventually" should tell you that a considerable time (possibly several years) for consideration passed before making the decision to leave the life in the UK and move to France.

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[quote user="Chancer"]an impulse purchase perhaps but there can be very very few people alive that havn't done exactly that at some time or another, usually when something seems really cheap (I did exactly the same as her).

 [/quote]

Us too, we were actually visiting with the relatives who were shopping for a house. Agent asked us if we would like to look a little cottage just taken on et voila in near darkness by the light of a mobile phone we went ahead.

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The book is available on Amazon France as well as UK.

If you "Look inside" (Feuilleter) you can get the flavour of the book.

It seemed a bit stereotype "Urban Brit's adventures in Rural France" to me; a townie moving to the country in the UK might have the same experiences and revelations.

I'll wait for Théière's opinion.

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I'm afraid the bit that's putting me off is: "she started to realize there was lot more to her new home than she could ever have imagined".

Unless it's extremely well written I can't face yet another person's description of how moving to France opened their eyes and gave them a few surprises and some food for thought.

But may be doing it an injustice, a preview is a good idea.
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Sorry to sound cynical, but I tend to the same view as ET on this type of book.

The first one I read, from Southend library, was A White House in Gascony by Rex Grizell. Then there was the TV series, name forgotten , about  a couple who move to Provence. And of course, A Place in the Sun. And some other similar series and reads.

At the same time we had the awful F&M disease in the UK and country walking was banned in Scotland, where we had a holiday home. So we came for a holiday here, near the Pyrenees, and fell in love with it. Who could resist? Pure Escapism.

Sold the Scottish place and bought a cheap house here.

Only 16 years later we're going to have to face reality [:(]

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I remember that summer Patf. Was still living in the UK and we'd booked a three-week holiday in the Scottish islands, we couldn't afford many holidays in those days and we'd been looking forward to it for ages, planning all the walks we could do and the beautiful places we'd see. We were barely allowed off the tarmac and every time we were, we spent longer dipping our feet every time we came to a gate or a style than actually walking. Such a disappointment :-(
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 I still think that the Scottish Highlands and Islands are even more beautiful than rural France. But the climate and the short winter days change my mind. Plus the midgies.

Just to compare with french prices - husband bought our holiday home there (a small stonebuilt bungalow) at an auction in the mid '90s for £21,000. We sold it in 2001 for £43,000. I saw it for sale again recently, much altered/improved?, for about £200,000.

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Well I read as much as Amazon allows you to, and to be brutally honest, in those few pages I wasn't told anything I didn't already know, I didn't see any new ground being broken, I didn't find the author and her dad very inspiring company and I didn't crack a single smile nor stifle a single giggle - although several of the reviews on Amazon do mention humour so maybe that comes later. But for me, the opening chapter just didn't sparkle. Then I looked at the first few pages of the one Jonzjob recommended, felt a giggle building up almost immediately and ended up with a big smile and wanting more, so I ordered that one.

That said, the Good Life one gets lots of good reviews so it obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people. Maybe it appeals more to those who are dreaming of moving to France, and who will be excited to be told that moules frites are a favourite meal in Northern France, amused that you can't always find a bar open, etc?

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