Autumn Leave

Michele Guiness and her husband always believed they would live in France one day - but were amazed when a series of minor miracles made it possible to buy a house in the Limousin.


In this frank and funny account of their ups and downs, based on Michele's diary of her husband's three-month sabbatical, we meet a host of extraordinary characters as she pursues the truth behind some of the hamlet's tortuous relationships, and meets the beleaguered French church. Setting up a new home, living in a different culture, and adapting to rural life was more stressful than she could have imagined. So was the local feuding, the potentially expensive legal wrangling, the moral dilemmas about owning land with their more furry neighbours.