Book review of But you are in France, Madame by Catherine Berry

But you are in France, Madame
Catherine Berry

My review today is for But you are in France, Madame by Catherine Berry, a memoir about an Australian family who spent a few years living in the French Alps.

Right from the start this truly was a mega-move from one side of the world to the other, with three children and very little luggage. Add in the extreme change in weather, from Australian summertime to Alpine winter weather, school life, social life and sports activities for the children, which in turn led to adult inauguration with all things bureaucratic and Catherine certainly had a story to tell.

Theirs was never meant to be a forever move, but the original time they gave themselves kept growing as they became more settled and the children loved their new routine and activities, despite living in France being Mum’s dream to begin with. Rather than buying, they rented places to stay, often term-time lets, but that meant they regularly had to move out during the holidays. Instead of this being a hassle, it gave them the perfect excuse to travel around France and beyond as a family.

As always, life in France wasn’t all ski-ing lessons, coffee shops, markets and family road trips, they also had to battle medical issues, culture frustrations, coordinating visitors and a very long distance commuting dad/husband. However, I was quite jealous of the flexibility their lifestyle gave them and loved the way they embraced the good and the bad and got the most out of their French adventure. Catherine’s love of France and spending time with her family comes across very clearly.

This well written memoir certainly portrayed everything I would expect from a move to France and for anyone thinking of doing something similar it is an interesting and detailed account of everything they experienced while here.

But you are in France, Madame is available in ebook format from Amazon.