French Leave

Liz Ryan

Sinossi

It was when she realised she was spending twelve hours a week and five thousand euro a year commuting to work that Liz Ryan began to question how great life in boom-time Ireland really was - and reached a decision the day an enraged biker hurled a helmet at her windscreen. So she quit her job, sold her house and moved to a remote hamlet in coastal Normandy. Thus begins her French adventure, in which she gets picked up by the police, discovers the mixed pleasures of French homeownership - flooded basements, grim neighbours, surreal phone companies, busybody mayors - and embraces the challenges of creating a new life in a new country. Liz hilariously charts her gradual immersion into village life, the setbacks and the joys, the local political intrigue, the Gallic shrug and that famous French bureaucracy - and paradoxical French attitudes to food, politics, sport, dating, and shopping on the grand scale. But like any expat, even as she revels in new pleasures she also experiences the tug-of-war between fresh fields and the place of one's birth, the craic, the humour and the warm embrace of lifelong friends.

Disponibile da: 15/04/2013.

Lunghezza di stampa: 313 pagine.

Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

The Book of Rumi - 105 Stories...

Rumi

Philip Pullman, author of 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, has remarked that "after nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world." This new collection of Rumi stories fills that need.This fresh prose translation of 105 short teaching stories by Rumi, which form the core of the six-volume Masnavi, explores the hidden spiritual aspects of everyday experience. Rumi transforms the seemingly mundane events of daily life into profound Sufi teaching moments. These prose gems open the mystical portal to the world of the ancient mystic.These stories include well-known and popular tales such as "Angel of Death," "The Sufi and His Cheating Wife," "Moses and the Shepherd," "Chickpeas," and "The Greek and Chinese Painters" as well as the less commonly quoted parables: "The Basket Weaver," "The Mud Eater," and "A Sackful of Pebbles."Rumi's voice alternates between playful and authoritative, whether he is telling stories of ordinary lives or inviting the discerning reader to higher levels of introspection and attainment of transcendent values. Mafi's translations delicately reflect the nuances of Rumi's poetry while retaining the positive tone of all of Rumi's writings, as well as the sense of suspense and drama that mark the essence of the Masnavi.

Mostra libro

Steep Trails

John Muir

A patron saint of twentieth-century environmental activity, John Muir's appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West but also fought for its preservation. Steep Trails collects together his essays and letters written as he traveled, capturing the personal, heartfelt connection he had with the lands he roamed.

Mostra libro

Unbound - A True Story of War...

Dean King

In October 1934, the Chinese Communist Army found itself facing annihilation, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Nationalist soldiers. Rather than surrender, 86,000 Communists embarked on an epic flight to safety. Only thirty were women. Their trek would eventually cover 4,000 miles over 370 days. Under enemy fire they crossed highland swamps, climbed Tibetan peaks, scrambled over chain bridges, and trudged through the sands of the western deserts. Fewer than 10,000 of them survived, but remarkably all of the women lived to tell the tale.Unbound is an amazing story of love, friendship, and survival written by a new master of adventure narrative.

Mostra libro

Homosexuality to Holiness: It's...

Steven T. Smith

After all the transitions and changes taking place in my life over the last 53 years, I discovered that I am not my own. I realized that to be what you were created to be requires a hand of God to lead me in that direction. My stubbornness and hard heart caused the rug to be pulled out from under me. God looked at his clock and said it was his turn to us me for his glory. Upon me still refusing to let go of my lifestyle, I suffered much mentally and emotionally. My life was not where I wanted it to be, I was lost and still seeking love in a man and the homosexual lifestyle. My unhappiness triggered God to step in and do what he does best and that is change me for his glory. Here it is, 2010 back in West Palm Beach without my permission once again. A place that I hated but God wanted me back in this place for a reason unknown to me, I couldn't see why he wanted me to come back but the clock was ticking and wanted me to get in line or get left behind.

Mostra libro

The Dog Who Took Me Up a...

Rick Crandall, Josesph Cosgriff

The uplifting story of two unlikely mountaineers: a man in late middle age and a fearless pint-sized pup who, together, scale Colorado's highest peaks. 
By the time life had finished hitting Rick Crandall from all sides, he was at the lowest point of his life, both personally and professionally. Depressed to find himself facing a mid-late-life age crisis and watching his finances crumble as the tech industry bubble burst, he hopes his future isn't headed downhill. It is at this critical juncture in their new marriage that his wife, Pamela, makes an astute and life-changing suggestion: "Let's get a dog." 
So begins the story of Emme, a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard trapped in the body of a five-pound Australian terrier puppy. Soon, Emme and Rick hit the hiking trails around Aspen, Colorado. While she is groomed to be a show dog, it's soon obvious that her heart is in the hills and with Rick, who decides to add more challenging hikes to the mix. Before long, they are scaling Colorado's "fourteeners," peaks with altitudes of over 14,000 feet. On one magical day, Emme climbs to the top of four "fourteeners," a quarter of the sixteen such peaks she will complete during her life without once being carried on a trail or on the rocks on the way to a summit.

Mostra libro

Murder Runs in the Family -...

Anne George

Anne George’s novels offer a delightful mix of gentle comedy and compelling mystery. Murder Runs in the Family finds two feisty 60-something sisters doing a little amateur sleuthing into the death of a visiting genealogist. Mary Alice has spared no expense for her daughter’s wedding. Two days after the glittering affair, Mary Alice and Patricia Anne are spending a fascinating lunch listening to the groom’s cousin explain the ’dog-eat-dog" world of professional genealogy. Minutes later they are shocked to learn that the genteel woman they were just speaking with has fallen from a courthouse window. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Patricia Anne soon finds herself enmeshed in a world where proud old families are willing to kill to keep their ancestor’s dirty laundry from being aired. Full of good clean fun, Anne George’s novels deliver nonstop suspense tempered with light-hearted laughs and a cast of quirky characters. Ruth Ann Phimister’s rollicking narration perfectly captures both the love of family and iron will of these two Southern ladies.

Mostra libro