The French connection

The Secret life of France

Well might you groan. We have all travelled a long way from the 1980s, when John Ardagh’s magisterial The French was the basic text if you wished to understand those who live their lives according to liberté, egalité et fraternité. The genre took a quantum leap forward with the mega-sellers of Peter Mayle whose gentle account of settling in Provence spurred thousands to seek happiness in little towns and villages from Brittany to Briancon.

Whatever the merit of Mayles’ effort, it sparked a hunt among publishers to find similar — and similarly profitable — efforts of fish-out-of-water foreigners grappling with language and locals in a porridge, or maybe cassoulet, of misunderstanding which was eventually resolved with a bottle of the local plonk and all parties involved Learning About Differences.