Review by Bill Kirton
The essence and the
fun of this book are encapsulated in a couple of sentences from the blurb. The
writer goes to France to take
on the ‘simple’ task of looking after ‘an 82 year old English lady’ who looks ‘like
everybody’s favourite grandmother until Jean-Louis arrives to pick her up on
his Kawasaki
1200’. She discovers later that this old lady, Betty, when she heard that her
daughter planned to ship her off to Brittany to stay with her other daughter, ‘decided to
have a slight stroke’.
The text is marked throughout with wit and humour
that range from the gentle to the (almost) outrageous. Ducal’s characters
(including herself as narrator) are beautifully drawn, not with any ostentation
or wordy pretentiousness, but through observation of what they say and do. (The
deceptive simplicity of ‘she decided to have a slight stroke’ is an example of
the sort of economy I mean.). Ducal and the irrepressible Betty make a terrific
couple. They also make a nonsense of the preconceptions about age and
competence.
This was written by someone who loves life and
knows how to live it. Unlike other British writers who’ve produced self-aware,
often patronising books about life in France , Ducal knows what is meant by joie de vivre and
contributes her own take on it. She and Betty delight in what the country has
to offer and she uses her writer’s gift of observation to identify and select
the elements – large and small – that make up its attractive reality. Her voice
is clear, direct, inviting as she celebrates her own and Betty’s absorption
into French ways. It’s a life-affirming read and it’s also great fun.
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