Sarah Turnbull, an Australian native, tells the story of how she came to live in Paris, France, with a Frenchman, and the culture shock that came with it. This book is a memoir of sorts.

people who enjoy reading about France, the French culture, memoirs, Australians, culture shock, and basically fish-out-of-water books.

how Turnbull described the street, the Rue Montorgeuil, that she and Fred lived on. She captured exactly how the street looked, smelled, felt, and sounded. Wherever she talked about a place in the book, like Baincthun (in northern France), or Les Halles, or the Louvre, or Levallois (a suburb of Paris), I felt like I was right there walking alongside her.

She also does a great job of describing what it is like to be a foreigner in France, without putting too much whining in there. Turnbull struggled to fit in. Coming from Australia, she was outgoing, but the French are reserved, until they get to know you, and it was hard for her to deal with it.

I don't think there was anything not to like!

move to France! Her description was so vivid and lively that I wished I could live there, too.

happy. Turnbull has an upbeat writing style and some of her culture-clash anecdotes made me giggle.

is Sarah Turnbull, an Australian native, who is now living and working in France.

it is a great read. I read it over the course of two days, but at 320 pages, it could be read in a few hours.

Read this book. Your life will be enriched by it, especially if you are a francophile. If you aren't, well, read it anyway. Turnbull has some interesting insights about the French people.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Almost French : Love and a New Life in Paris   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jun 02, 2006 at 9:58am • Submit your own review...