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  • A Year at the French Farmhouse

  • By: Gillian Harvey
  • Narrated by: Lucy Scott
  • Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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A Year at the French Farmhouse cover art

A Year at the French Farmhouse

By: Gillian Harvey
Narrated by: Lucy Scott
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Publisher's Summary

After ten years of loyal service Lily Butterworth has been made redundant. Like any clever woman, she knows the cure to redundancy is a little too much wine and her best friend.

Only the next morning, Lily has more than a hangover...she has a whole new house – in France!

Seeing this as an opportunity instead of a disaster, she’s excited about finally moving to France, just as she and her husband always dreamed of. However, Lily is in for another surprise. Despite planning to move there for over 20 years, her husband never actually intended to go.

So begins a year in France, alone, renovating the gorgeous old farmhouse that is held together by wallpaper and wishes.

Will a year at the French farmhouse be just what Lily needs? Or could it be the previous owner, Frederique, that is the answer to Lily’s dreams?

©2022 Gillian Harvey (P)2022 Boldwood Books

What listeners say about A Year at the French Farmhouse

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable story

A nice easy listen to story I didn’t quite quess the ending. But it was an enjoyable ending

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good story

The narrator is brilliant- her accents are flawless and nicely done. The story is well carried

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Life, courage & reality

A place I was happy to be taken to, enjoyed the story & performance. A lovely novel.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely story

Easy to listen to. Looked forward to hear more of the story each time I listened to it, and enjoyed feeling like I was in the beautiful surrounds of a country town in France. Lovely easy listening I will recommend to friends.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

horrible ending

Horrible ending when the main character goes back to a troubled marriage.

Good book until the last few chapters. Bitterly dissapointing.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not great

The storyline is fairly bland. Easy to listen to but could easily not finish it. Lots of better travel stories out there that are better.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

A well read story that failed to take flight.

I gave up reading/listening to this book about halfway through. It just never got off the ground.

Contrary to a variety of very positive reviews. I felt this story failed to take flight.

The premise reminded me of A Country Escape by Katie Fforde but, unlike that book which really I enjoyed, this story lacked any real plot action. I found myself wondering what I was reading on to find out. Wondering what I was even wanting to happen.

Initially the text was nicely written and the main character seemed relatable. I enjoyed the writing style, but then it descended into a veiled attempt at a bilingual text. The main character was attempting to learn French so most discussions started in basic french which was then translated which was fine. Perhaps, as a fellow learner of french, I enjoyed this initially, but it soon got old. and in some situations, such as a shopping trip, it descended into a bilingual shopping list of items that added little to the story. I wasn't reading the book for a lesson in basic French vocabulary. I wanted a story.

Meanwhile, by chapter 20, the English husband she'd left behind, inspired no desire for a reunion. He was portrayed as a very one dimensional character who was quite self centred and lacked any real depth. The sudden and short-lived journeys into their previous relationship milestones felt pointless. and added little to either character or the wider plot. In fact, they felt quite jarring as they interrupted the flow of present day action and left me with little more knowledge of the husband Ben or desire to know more of him. If the reader was meant to desire a reunion, I completely failed to feel the chemistry of this.

Back in current day France, Frederique, the farmhouse owner, town mayor and head of the local gendarmerie (police), seems like he should be the love interest of the story but only in so much as Lily (the lead character) describes him as handsome while reminding herself he is not the leading man in a "tv Rom Com". However, his interactions are no more friendly than a local farmer neighbour and the females of the village who she interacts with.

Ultimately if this is meant to be a 'which man should she choose" saga, then it fails to present either as a viable option.

The arrival of the best friend doesn't really add much to the story either. She's another under developed character with a non-event of a medical drama causing her to create some convenient local gossip. But it all feels very disjointed and I don't really see what she adds to the plot or character development.

If the story is meant to be an adventure around restoring a dilapidated farmhouse, I feel like that should have been well underway by chapter 20 rather than just beginning in chapter 21 of 37. The fact that the sale doesn't fully go through for some weeks also seems more like a convenient way to keep Frederique in the picture. Since there are no conditions on the sale going through, no other interested parties or inheritance hunters, it's simply a delay that, again, adds little to the plot.

Ultimately, even if these issues are resolved in the latter half of the book, I feel like there should have been a heck of a lot more depth resolved by the halfway point. Most particularly, there should be a clear reason for continuing. Whether a problem to overcome, a mystery to uncover or a heart to be won, by halfway it should be clear why one is reading.

I am left wondering.... where is this story going? and I find that my answer is... "I really don't care."

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Waste of money

It was long winded, extremely boring, left me with a feeling of time wasted and an absolute waste of money.

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