A fascinating, and enlightening, account of a franco-phone British resident in the real France, outside the ex-pat bubble. Unlike many British seeking their dream home in France, the writer left the UK as a result of the precarity of trying to make a living from part-time teaching whilst caring for her mother. An unexpected legacy, and cheap French property prices, enabled her to buy a house in rural Brittany, and in 2002, she moved to a small village, completely on her own. She was warmly welcomed by the local community who had been disappointed by the lack of communication from the other British residents. Her creative activities took her all over the region while her social life with her Breton neighbours, and friends from the textile guild that she helped found, exceeded her expectations. After the tragic terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in 2015 in which one of her favourite broadcasters was killed, she decided to apply for French nationality, and in 2019 officially became a French citizen, a change greeted with delight by her friends and neighbours – as one of them informed her : now you have the right to râler (protest) !
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