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Description of En Gard

Two city-dwellers who find their beauiftul but neglected French house on the Internet move to the South of France and re-discover themselves. Along the way, they discover a skeleton in the grounds and learn to butcher a wild boar. Their neighbours, a gypsy family, drag them "kicking and screaming, singing and dancing" into French rural life.

Sandy Thompson writes: Moving from an English city to a French village is like moving to Pluto. Another world. Not exactly the chance to re-invent yourself, more an opportunity to be the person you always knew you were - given half a chance. 'En Gard' describes the adjustments and the changes we have undergone, in attitude, in manners, in the colour of our socks.

There are daily adventures, excitement and traumas, and some straightforward hard slog. The book is a patchwork; a reflection of our lives here. It also includes what Steinbeck called 'hoopdedoodle'; descriptive asides in the form of letters to friends.

We found our house on the Internet. It was both beautiful and cheap. We convinced ourselves that it was next to a pig-farm or a nuclear power station - why else was it still for sale? It turned out to be in a lovely village, in a lovely part of the Gard department in the far South - but old and neglected. In the original idea we had imagined something more ready-to-go. We bought a camper-van and Alistair did 8,000 kilometres looking for something better. He didn't find it. So we decided to buy the house we loved, and to get our hands dirty.

It was not straightforward. For instance, when Alistair and his brother tackled the sewerage system they cut through the bedrock using a diamond cutter. At a Y-junction in the centre of the courtyard they found soil, not stone. And in the soil they found a human skeleton…

The main characters in the book are ourselves, and our neighbours, a gypsy family of seven. They have dragged us kicking and screaming, singing and dancing, into French rural life. Our understanding of all things French has been accelerated by our relationship with them; what is important and what isn’t, the nuances, the food and wine and especially the pastis.

The family constantly 'borrow' eggs, cigarettes, brake fluid and ladders. They live life passionately and not always happily or smoothly. Their ability to bounce back from setbacks is miraculous. Life alongside them is a dangerous cocktail of guns and alcohol, pig rustling, horse racing, 'Ann Summers' parties, a capella singing and much more.

Title Information

ISBN:

9781901253474

Pages:

200 pages

Format:

Paperback

Product Code:

22157

Publisher:

Léonie Press

Published:

01/03/2004

Edition:

1st Edition

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About Alistair Scott and Sandy Thompson

Sandy Thompson

Like many art school graduates Sandy had to earn her living doing something completely different for most of her life - working in a casino with a lot of other delightful misfits. She kept the creative flame flickering by writing short stories, making silver jewellery and painting in watercolour. Moving to France has given her the time and space to write more, and she will be teaching watercolour there, when the dust settles.

Alistair Scott

Moving to France is the latest adventure for Alistair. One amongst many. Expert at nothing and living in a world of specialists, he's at a slight angle to the rest of the universe, and has turned his hand to many things. Sailor, lecturer, roofer, writer - all part of a rich tapestry. In this small French corner of the universe, he at last feels perfectly at peace.