After enjoying a great read about life in another country, do you ever daydream about living elsewhere?
I’ve always dreamed of starting a new life in the south of France. While that hasn’t happened for me (yet!), I’ve found joy in creating characters who do live that fantasy. My Love in Provence series — and the standalone Drawing Lessons — bring that dream to life on the page.
Over the years, readers have shared how much they’ve enjoyed living vicariously through those stories. One reader (now a dear friend) even used The Promise of Provence as a guide when she made her own move to Antibes, in the south of France, following in my protagonist’s footsteps. As an author, I can’t tell you how special that was to hear.
We see each other every year when I return to Antibes. She never fails to remind me how my book helped change her life. Do you think you would take the leap? Is there a book that has created such a fantasy for you?
Making such an important decision takes courage and often a previously undiscovered strength. After leaving everything familiar behind, finding a quiet determination is necessary, after stepping on foreign soil, to navigate new challenges: learning the language, finding work, building friendships and then rediscovering oneself.
If you know me, you know my characters often live the life I imagine I or my readers will enjoy. That’s one of the things that makes writing so rewarding. I’ve been having a most satisfying time working on my next novel, The French Effect, which will be out this November — I can’t wait to share it with the world!
Today, though, I want to spotlight stories from other authors — tales of women — some fictional, others real — who leave behind the familiar, step boldly into new cultures, and reinvent their lives in faraway places. Their journeys are inspiring, and I hope you find them as captivating as I do.
No doubt, you have watched films based on some of these stories. I highly recommend enjoying the book. Happy reading!
Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell
A frustrated middle-aged housewife walks away from dirty dishes and other housework for a two-week escape to Greece that becomes so much more.
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
A beloved memoir of a middle-aged woman and her husband who fall in love with an abandoned, run-down villa in magical Tuscany and change their lives.
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
A young woman comes of age in Ireland but cannot find work there. When a job offer arrives from America, she must leave to pursue a new life.
The Unbreakables by Lisa Barr
A forty-something woman jets off to France after her perfect marriage collapses. As she puts the pieces of her life back together, she discovers a new reality in a far different world.
All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett
Anna leaves for London, England, right after university, following her dream of life there. The glossy layers of class and privilege are peeled back as she explores what it means to create a new life that still honors the one left behind.
