I enjoyed the descriptions of small French villages, but was disappointed that she didn't seem to achieve her objective of living with the locals and enjoying her own company. She never quite got around to it all in the 6 months she was away.

Opening Sentence: "... The year my mother turned fifty she had a nervous breakdown ..."

Mary Moody is a reporter and appeared on the ABC's Gardening Show for many years. When she turned 50 she decided to go off and discover herself. Having never been alone before - she left her partner, children and grandchildren and moved from Australia to France for six months. I was so looking forwards to reading this story, having recently turned 50 myself, the story started off so well, and then she got to France.

Then the book goes downhill - I was expecting to read the experiences of an independent and admired woman, leaving family behind in Australia to discover France at its grass roots. Instead I got the inane dribbles of a self-indulgent woman who spent most of her time freeloading off the English and Australian ex-pats in a never-ending round of binging and drunkiness. I doubt Mary saw the real France - or if she did it wasn't put into her memoir.

Please, please, please don't judge all Australian's by this woman - we are not all like this - she has exhibited the very worse behaviour. ( )