Book description
One day in late summer, Michael Wright gave up his comfortable South
London existence and, with only his long-suffering cat for company,
set out to begin a new life. His destination was 'La Folie', a
dilapidated 15th century farmhouse in need of love and renovation in
the heart of rural France...
Inspired by the success of his column in the Daily Telegraph
about La Folie, this book is his winningly honest account of his
struggle to fulfil a childhood dream and become a Real Man - to make
the journey from social townie to rugged, solitary paysan. And
in chronicling his enthusiastic attempts at looking after livestock
and coming to terms with the concept of living Abroad Alone, the
author discovers what it takes to be a man at the beginning of the
21st century, especially if one is short sighted, flat footed and not
very good at games.
Life-affirming, laugh out loud funny (and boasting more than its
fair share of larger-than-life locals, bilingual chickens, diminutive
but over-sexed sheep, invisible rodents, manly power tools with
unpronounceable names, plus the occasional femmes fatale), this
tale of a new-found life in France with a cat, a piano and an
aeroplane, is both an elegy for a world that's fast disappearing as a
hymn to the simple pleasures of being alive.
Born in Surrey in 1966, Michael Wright enjoyed an unfashionably happy
education at Windlesham House and Sherborne and graduated from Edinburgh
University with a degree in English Literature. He spent several years
working as a theatre critic, arts columnist and literary diarist in
London whilst wondering what to do when he grew up. The answer turned
out to lie in rural France, where he now lives.
