In my mind, these experiences added up to knowledge of France and some understanding of its people. When I was sixteen we lived in England for a year and I came to Paris several times. At secondary school I studied French and saw a few films by Truffaut and Resnais, which had struck me as enigmatic in a very European way, although I couldn’t have said why.
When I was a child, my family had toured France in a tiny campervan and my eyes had popped at the chocolates and the cheeses. It was a city and culture I was familiar with at least that’s what I thought back then. And except for four months when I resumed my travels, I have been living here ever since. That trip to Paris was more than eight years ago now. Why not? After all, this is what travelling is all about, isn’t it: seizing opportunities, doing things you wouldn’t normally do, being open to the accidental? When he’d invited me to visit him in Paris, I’d hesitated just long enough to make sure he was serious before saying yes. His English was sprinkled with wonderful expressions like ‘foot fingers’ instead of toes and he seemed charming, creative and complicated very French, in other words. It was in Bucharest, Romania, that I met Frédéric.
The idea was to immerse myself in fascinating foreign cultures, to work as a freelance journalist in Eastern Europe, which in my mind bubbled with unwritten, hard-hitting stories. Though, at twenty-seven I wasn’t much interested in hanging around youth hostels. If I didn’t go now, I never would, warned a nagging voice in my head. I’d taken one year’s leave from my job as a television reporter in Sydney to travel around Europe. I left Australia hoping to cram a lifetime of adventures into one unforgettable year. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"An engaging, endearing view of the people and places of France." - Publishers Weekly Language is a minefield of misunderstanding and the simple act of buying a baguette is fraught with social danger.īut as she navigates the highs and lows of this strange new world, from the sophisticated cafes and haute couture fashion houses to the picture postcard French countryside, little by little Sarah falls under its spell: passionate, mysterious, infuriating, and charged with that French specialty-seduction. Put a very French Frenchman together with a strong-willed Australian girl and the result is some spectacular-and often hilarious-cultural clashes. Acting on impulse, she agrees to visit Fredric in Paris for a week. A chance meeting with a charming Frenchman in Bucharest changes her travel plans forever. After backpacking her way around Europe journalist Sarah Turnbull is ready to embark on one last adventure before heading home to Sydney.
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