Susie Kelly Two Steps Backward: The misadventures of an English woman in France

Reviewed by JIM EAGLES



Do we really need another book about an Anglo-Saxon going to the Continent to do up some romantic old villa or farmhouse?

Yes, according to the publisher of this one, who lists another four such volumes on the back page.

No, as far as I'm concerned, if this book is anything to go by.

Susie Kelly, her husband and the family menagerie fled to France not so much because of a fascination with Gallic culture as because their business in England had gone broke and it was the only place they could afford to buy a home.

We learn little from their "misadventures" beyond the fact that people are people everywhere, rural communities tend to be fairly supportive, and that trouble seems to follow some folk regardless of what country they are in. If you want to learn about France you're far better off getting a Lonely Planet guide.

* Bantam, $27.95