the french house

talk about an experience in renovation and community!  don wallace's memoir "the french house" chronicles his family's journey of buying a house in france--nearly sight unseen--on belle isle-de-mer just off the coast of brittany.

if you've ever dreamed, a la frances mayes style in "under the tuscan sun" or even peter mayle's "a year in provence", this book will make you smile, chuckle, and possibly even howl with laughter while you find yourself lost online searching for an abandoned ruin to call your own.

jetting between their lives in manhattan and france, struggling with a double mortgage and trying to find a plumber francais, they continue to surf the french coastal waves (don being from long beach and his wife mindy a native hawaiian), have a son, befriend suzanne (the local whom tourists have termed "la femme savage" but who really is just a shy woman who likes to garden) and figure out the practice of hospitality Bellilois style.

you learn about the history of the island as well, dating from arcadians to german occupation during WWII.

succeeding in being a charming read without at all romanticizing the process, this book is about making your dreams--and a working toilet--a reality.