Humorous travel memoir about moving from Wales to France; amazon bestseller. Appeals to readers who enjoy armchair travel, who love France and Provence, who read Peter Mayle's books, who dream of changing their lives and moving to a rural haven, especially older readers about to retire from work or those wanting to give up their current work.
The true scents of Provence?
Lavender, thyme and septic tank.
There are hundreds of interesting things you can do in a bath but washing dishes is not one of them, nor what writer Jean Gill had in mind when she swopped her Welsh Valley for a French one. Keen to move out of the elephant's stomach, that stew of grey mists called weather in Wales, she offered her swimming certificate to a bemused Provencale estate agent and bought a house with good stars and its own spring-water. Or rather, as it turns out, a neighbour's spring-water that is the only supply to the kitchen, which, according to the nice men from the Water Board, is emptying its dirty water directly and illegally onto the main road... and there's worse ...
But how can you resist a village called Dieulefit, `God created it', the village 'where everyone belongs'. Discover the real Provence in good company ...
Watch the book trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Rrn4CGw5A
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General'How Blue is my Valley' has been an amazon No 1 bestseller in Provence/France categories and is regularly in the top 10. It appeals to readers who like to read about the British who move to France, their funny mistakes and attitudes.
There is a readership in France requesting French language versions of this and other books by Jean Gill. As she lives in France in the village where the book is set, there is a local market. She speaks French and could promote French language versions via bookshops, festivals and readings.
Endorsement/review: 'Laugh out loud in many places... such a vivid picture of the lavender fields, sunflowers and olive trees that you could almost be there with her.' Living France Magazine (circulation 60,000 readers)
Readers identify with the problems of living in a new country and misunderstanding the language (French) so the book appeals to those who want to know what it's like to move to another country (France, and previously Wales); to live in a another language (French) to be an immigrant and to follow a dream.
Cover design and artwork copyright belongs to the author.
Every Sunday we feed the toilet or, to be more exact, we make an offering via the toilet to the Good Bacteria which, we hope, inhabit our septic tank. The weekly offering looks remarkably like ready-mix concrete, comes in an unlabelled sachet from a firm unwilling to divulge the ingredients of the magic potion but confident that it will prevent the ‘boue’ or ‘mud’ from building up in your ‘fosse septique’. Just to be on the safe side, I treat the toilet, and tank, to an occasional yoghurt, which I was advised must be ‘live’. Have you ever scoured the supermarket shelves for live yoghurt, presumably as opposed to the dead variety? Isn’t all yoghurt live?
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French
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Translation in progress.
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Vinicius Freire
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Author review: I highly recommend Vinicius. He has done a first class job of translating very difficult, poetic English into Portuguese that I'm told by a reader is of a very high standard, with 'a Brazilian flavour but it works for any Portuguese reader.' He even managed to convey the humour in the book. He was also very professional and easy to work with. I would be very happy for him to translate all of my books. |
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Spanish
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Gisela Elisa
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