Words in a French Life : Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France

A collection of charming anecdotes about the experience of being an American woman raising her two very French children with her French husband in Provence while trying to master the language.

Kristin Espinasse first fell in love with the French language and culture while studying it at Arizona State University. During a semester abroad, she met the Frenchman who would become her husband when she joined him in Provence in 1992. Years later, when their two young children began learning the language, she found herself falling in love with it all over again. In 2002 she started a blog to collect the short pieces she had begun writing about her experiences as an American woman living in France and raising two very French children - who often had a thing or two to teach her about the language! Charming and practical, WORDS IN A FRENCH LIFE uses the language as its jumping off place. A piece called "Linge" ("laundry") swoons over the wonderful scent the laundry has after being hung out in the French countryside. "Comptoir" ("counter") is about the intricacies of grocery shopping in France. "Gronder" ("to scold") is what happens when she and her husband disturb an elderly neighbor while making renovations to their cottage. "Beurk" ("gross!") is about what her daughter says when faced with a plate of spinach, versus what Americans say when spotting roast pigeon on a French menu. And in "Toquade" ("crush"), when her son begins fussing with his hair before school in the morning, she realizes he has developed an interest in a female classmate who shares his love of the soccer team Olympic de Marseille.