Many books about moving to France are prefaced with remarks on the lines of ‘this is the book I wish has been available when I made my move’. This one justifies the notion since, as Elizabeth Morgan says, had she read it 20 years ago she probably wouldn’t now be on her sixth French house.
Many such books also betray the author’s apparent uncertainty as to the audience he or she is addressing. They waver unsteadily between advice for the absolute tyro with little or no French to more subtle discussions of integration for relative old stagers. This may, of course, be at the urging of publishers who always like to spread the net as wide as possible, but the effect may simply be to satisfy neither extreme. Life Style French Style is clearly aimed at those readers who have yet to buy either a holiday home in France or to move here permanently.This approach often produces a handbook-style text, with great detail on, for instance, the minutiae of French conveyancing but little in the way of narrative or real-life examples. This book takes the reverse approach: it does not seek to duplicate what is already (and increasingly widely) available, although it helpfully suggests relevant sources of information and advice. Rather, it takes the reader at a fair canter through the business of finding, buying, doing up and furnishing a property before discussing practical aspects of living in France as diverse as taxes, the cultural life and healthcare. In dong so, it has recourse to a great many individual case histories including many of the author’s own experiences, often included as cautionary tales of situations to be avoided. Throughout there are useful little lists of French words and phrases – including advice on how, and how much, to be rude.
All this takes up less than half of the book: the remainder is devoted to reviews of the various regions to help readers to determine which is likely best to suit the requirements of the lifestyle they have in mind.
The first part of the book would, I think, be an excellent guide for new would-be buyers in France, provided it is understood that this is not a stand-alone book: one would still need all the details of notary conveyancing, for instance. The advice is sensible and clear and the anecdotes both often amusing and well-chosen to illustrate the points made.
On the latter part, it is hard to judge just how much or how little regional information is really required, and so how adequate is what is offered. It may be that for many people the introduction to the regional surveys would be as much or more helpful. This is based on INSEE (national statistical office) surveys of the top 20 towns in France by such criteria as dynamic economy, employment, standard of housing, education, environmental spending and low levels of crime and road accidents.
When it comes to the regions themselves, Elizabeth Morgan has abandoned the 22 official ones through which France is administered in favour of 10 of her own choosing. This represents a simplification of the book’s structure but might add to the confusion of anyone trying to get to grips with the different departments. Moreover, lumping together larger areas tends to play down the diversities within them. It also means that there is little room for descriptions of those individual towns or villages that are mentioned.
Each regional review contains a list of sample property prices. On the face of it, this offers a basis for comparison between one area and another, but it has two drawbacks. The first is that the samples are so terse in description as to make true like-for-like comparison difficult. The second is that the prices themselves are not dated. Quoting prices of anything in books is always problematical: like telephone directories, they are out of date by the time they are published. Unless the book is to be reissued frequently in new editions, such information will date increasingly; the more so in the case of house prices which, in France, have been highly volatile in recent years. Since any interested buyers will inevitably find themselves dealing with real prices, such undated snapshots seem of little value, particularly when the anglophone media in France often provide more up to date snapshots (as in the map of average prices by department 2005/06 in this month’s issue of The Connexion).
However, these reservations do not seriously undermine the value of a book which offers the newcomer an excellent introduction to the problems and opportunities a move to France entails in a brisk and engaging style.
Published in paperback by Spring Hill
278 pages
ISBN: 978 1 905862 09 2 £12.99
