Book review of My Four Seasons in France by Janine Marsh

My Four Seasons in France by Janine Marsh

My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life by Janine Marsh

 

This month sees the release of Toujours la France! the third memoir about life in France from Janine Marsh. Having enjoyed Janine’s first memoir My Good Life in France, I was delighted to be accepted on the Toujours la France! blog tour. This reminded me that lurking on my stuffed-full kindle was My Four Seasons in France, her second memoir, so I wasted no time and dived right in.

 

My Review

As you would expect from the title, this book follows a year in the never-dull lives of Janine and her husband Mark. I really enjoyed this format, watching the seasons change as village life rolls gently on, and experiencing the extreme weather that hits the Seven Valleys, the rural corner of northern France that they call home. 

 

We meet their neighbours, join in with village activities and experience rural French life at its best, and worst. We are introduced to their vast collection of dogs, cats and feathered friends, whose antics alone could fill a book, and anyone with any experience of rural village life will no doubt see and enjoy the similarities. I certainly found myself nodding in agreement at the ups and downs of a close-knit village community and some of the cultural differences between us Brits and the French.

 

Janine’s writing style is friendly and fun and she certainly brought this region of France alive for me. As I found from reading her first book, she made me want to set aside some time to explore an area of France that we usually drive through at speed, without really seeing it, on our way to or from the ferry ports to the UK. Shame on us!

 

If you love reading memoirs about real life in France, this is one is for you.

 

Purchase Links 

Author Bio

Janine Marsh lives in northern France with her husband and myriad pets. 

 

She is unable to resist a stray animal, and the word is out. She works from a converted pigsty when she’s not travelling around France doing research for her website www.thegoodlifefrance.com, which tells you everything you need to know about France and more. 

 

She gave up a sensible job in London, where she was born, to renovate a bargain-basement barn and turn it into a home – an ongoing project. She is an award-winning travel writer and social media fan who loves to share her life, explorations and photos on Facebook at The Good Life France.

 

You can find Janine on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and read her latest The Good Life France online Magazine here.

 

You can read my review of her previous book here:

My Good Life in France

 

Join me back here tomorrow for my review of Toujours la France!  - you are going to love it!