A missed opportunity
I have never read such a smug book; one which has made me feel so resentful and angry. Like many others I went to the Lot alone, bought a house and took delight in gradually becoming integrated into the life of the village. As a person on her own she had distinct advantages in getting to know the area and the people. What a missed opportunity. The title and the synopsis are both misleading and just add to the feeling that I have been cheated.
Ms Moody did not go to France to learn more about herself - she simply went on holiday.
My one hope is that she does not come to live in a village near me!

Au Revoir !!
I wish I had read these reviews before buying this book and I wouldn't have bought it
Didn't like the way she kept going back to her life in Australia and her Mother.
Not enough written about life in France
She seemed to have been on a Drink & Food Binge for the whole of the 6 months
Very disappointed and won't be buying any more by Mary Moody

Au Revoir
I found Mary Moody engaging energetic and enjoyed her previouse book 'Au revoir' very much I enjoyed her insights and introductions to her family relationships I thought her mothers death and the family funeral preparations were touching the family support in births and relationships are heartwarming they are a close communicating family
I bought all 3 books in the series enjoyed reading them all very much and wanted more
Mary Moodys French adventure was insightful she did engage with the French locals and contributed to villiage life and explored her suroundings enthusiastically and wrote in detail I felt I had taken the journey with her to and from Australia learning about both places she made home
I believe she was realistic about the expat lifestyle which is prominent in that area particularly this was not a 'desert island adventure' so I was not mislead Mary Moody set out to live alone away from her husband and family not to punish anyone but to enjoy a freedom that many baby boomers and subsequent generations take for granted as she married young and took her family responsibilities very seriously from a young age children of alchoholics are forced to grow up quickly and become 'enablers' just as she did
Good for her to have her adventure and consequently achieve a new life with her husband and family the experience brought them all closer and expanded their life after her 'running away at fifty' at least she found a soloution to her 'mid-life crisis' and didnt deceive anyone

absolute bilge what a c*w
what a selfcentred selfish woman she is,god knows how her poor family put up with her.what possesed a publisher to pander to her?Don't waste your money on this drival

Not the run-of-the-mill ex-pat struggle for survival among the natives
I enjoyed this book although I was somewhat disconcerted at the beginning by the chapters dedicated to the author's mother and their close relationship. Then the whole picture started to emerge. Mature, intelligent and 50, Mary Moody was obviously a bit over-accompanied at all times - a situation very few of us complain about, it's the loneliness that gets all the airing. She wondered what it would be like to lose all the constant lifelong loving support first from her own mother then from husband, children and grandchildren. Very intelligently in my opinion, she took just six months away from close ties, and moved first to the semi-shelter of a friend. It says much to her credit that she immediately made many more friends and was accompanied on her quest to discover more about herself. Covering her bets in this way, her solo journey was a success, and most of us who have become ex-pats have also been accompanied in our adventures. Her story is different, well written and revealing, but definitely not a 'What happens when you abandon everything for a shack in the back-of-beyond in a country whose language you don't speak'. A success story in its way, I recommend reading Amazon's synopsis carefully so as not to be disappointed - I did and I wasn't.