Home and Dry in Normandy: A Memoir of Eternal Optimism in Rural France

This is no dry description of the cold hard facts and potential pitfalls of buying a property in France, it is a humourous, poignant and very readable chronicle of the whole process, and the people encountered during it, from the first wish to the eventual fulfilment of a dream that many, many people share. The insights into the very different attitude to life and mind set of their growing circle of friends and neighbours is educational in itself, I wish I had read it before we bought our property in Normandy, we would have understood more about what was happening, laughed a lot more and would have probably been a lot less stressed! This is an enjoyable read for anyone and not just for people who are buying or thinking about buying property in France, it is a book for anyone who can enjoy reading about some of life's characters in a story about a couple actually getting up and doing something that most others only dream about. I laughed out loud at some parts and felt their sorrow at others in a book that explains, with insight and humour, a lot of things about France and the French that I, for one, have never quite grasped before, putting all this into a story that held me from page one. By the time you finish you feel that you know George & Donella West and that you would instantly recognize any one of the characters described in the book. You are able to sense their changing attitudes to the local people and, in turn the locals attitude to them as the story progresses. It is the first in a series and I really look forward to reading the rest.