Petite Anglaise

After seeing my Cville friends in July, I started Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson, which I was given as a ARC by Lissa. I was excited to switch to nonfiction for a change of pace.

This book chronicles an English woman who grows up longing for all things French. She arranges to study abroad in France during college, and eventually moves there permanently. She soon establishes a life in France, landing a job and an apartment, and starting a relationship with a Frenchman. They move in together, and several years later have a child. Their life centers on the day-to-day: who has to take their daughter Tadpole to the babysitter, who has to work late, what they should eat for dinner. The author notices that she and her boyfriend are drifting apart but doesn't know what to do about it. One day, on a whim, she starts a blog, calling herself Petite Anglaise, a nickname given to her by a former boyfriend's father. She starts writing about her adventures as a Englishwoman living in France, and attracts many followers. As her relationship with Mr. Frog (her boyfriend) goes further south, she meets one of her readers face-to-face and begins a relationship. This new man is another English person living in France. Predictably, this rebound relationship doesn't work out, and she is left with the remains of her life, Mr. Frog having moved into an apartment across the street.

The best part of this book was the author's musings about how blogging affects the blogger. Was she creating situations just so she would have something titillating to post on her blog, or was she simply reporting what happened to her? Also, halfway through her relationship with James, the Englishman, she realizes that being with another English person goes against her reasons for moving to France in the first place. Being with James keeps her English, instead of allowing her to completely immerse herself in french culture. I think this was an amazingly keen observation.

At the end of the book, I'm mostly left feeling sad for Tadpole, a little girl who now has to shuttle back and forth between two parents who really love her. I felt bad that life as she knew it had to change so drastically, and seemingly for a poor reason (especially considering Petite's new relationship fizzled).

K