Author Wendy Lee's new book - French Days, French Voices.
Special NW Coast and Country Author Spotlight Feature.
Welcome to another new author feature in conjunction with Amazon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Wendy Lee and her new novel French Days, French Voices.
When Wendy Lee moved to the French Mediterranean coast, le Midi, she was asked by a health service colleague 'how difficult can it be to lead a simple life?'
Twenty-five years later she, her partner and a second edition Cocker Spaniel called Lola, are still leading, some might say, a simple life. Although in her head still English, but now speaking quite good French, she is never heard saying 'Mustn't grumble' or 'getting there.'
Wendy Lee likes to think that this experience has changed the way she understands home. Her family live in England and she sees them often.
French Days, French Voices is her first non-fiction book. Told through the eyes of French villagers using snapshots, anecdotes, illustrations and poetry it is intended for anyone interested in a different way of life, but it is not a French language course, or a substitute for a travel guide!
Twenty-five years later she, her partner and a second edition Cocker Spaniel called Lola, are still leading, some might say, a simple life. Although in her head still English, but now speaking quite good French, she is never heard saying 'Mustn't grumble' or 'getting there.'
Wendy Lee likes to think that this experience has changed the way she understands home. Her family live in England and she sees them often.
French Days, French Voices is her first non-fiction book. Told through the eyes of French villagers using snapshots, anecdotes, illustrations and poetry it is intended for anyone interested in a different way of life, but it is not a French language course, or a substitute for a travel guide!
*French Days, French Voices by Wendy Lee - published by North Wales based Coast & Country in association with www.bookpublishing4u.co.uk
**Now available on Amazon via this link:
Most people have long had a love anffair with France. Everyone wants a holiday there. It is a spectacular country: beautiful villages, luminous cities, dark blue seas and skies, snow-covered mountains, limitless space…
They say you can be skiing in the mountains in the morning and sunbathing on a beach in the afternoon. It’s no wonder the French hardly ever leave it. But…this is a story about the experience of something more rare. This is living in, what to me as an English woman will always be someone else’s country, to be ‘une étrangère,’ but not a holiday maker, nor part of an ‘Expat’ community. I don’t mention, or not intentionally, perfect beaches, restaurants, sunbathing, or numbers of days of sun.
Living now in the heart of a French village, surrounded by French neighbours, this is a different place: a morning chat in the street, perhaps about the wind or heat, a glance at the local French paper, a conversation late on a hot afternoon sitting under the lime tree. A slightly different world view.
To say this is a true picture of France is naive, but in talking to my neighbours, I have tried to use understanding in my story.
I write observations of daily life - without too much ‘me’. The use of ‘the man, woman or dog’ is cumbersome, but more impartial than ‘we’ or ‘I’. The illustrations and poetry are to explain, when I cannot! I hope not to be too boring or too rose coloured, but simply objective. A reporter not an opinion writer. How successful I have been I leave for the reader to judge.
They say you can be skiing in the mountains in the morning and sunbathing on a beach in the afternoon. It’s no wonder the French hardly ever leave it. But…this is a story about the experience of something more rare. This is living in, what to me as an English woman will always be someone else’s country, to be ‘une étrangère,’ but not a holiday maker, nor part of an ‘Expat’ community. I don’t mention, or not intentionally, perfect beaches, restaurants, sunbathing, or numbers of days of sun.
Living now in the heart of a French village, surrounded by French neighbours, this is a different place: a morning chat in the street, perhaps about the wind or heat, a glance at the local French paper, a conversation late on a hot afternoon sitting under the lime tree. A slightly different world view.
To say this is a true picture of France is naive, but in talking to my neighbours, I have tried to use understanding in my story.
I write observations of daily life - without too much ‘me’. The use of ‘the man, woman or dog’ is cumbersome, but more impartial than ‘we’ or ‘I’. The illustrations and poetry are to explain, when I cannot! I hope not to be too boring or too rose coloured, but simply objective. A reporter not an opinion writer. How successful I have been I leave for the reader to judge.
Wendy Lee, France 2025.
P.S. In these post-Brexit days, I am hoping that British people will still have opportunities to live (and work) in France. As I write this, in 2024, British Airways are reinstating some flights to Nice, so…
www.bookpublishing4u.co.uk
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