Belle Ile and The French House

The House on Belle Ile

   The French House: An American Family, a Ruined Maison,               and the Village That Restored Them All --by Don Wallace                                             

Before checking out THE FRENCH HOUSE from the library, I read a review posted there by another reader. She stated that the book was not what she expected when she checked it out. What she expected to read about was a couple buying a ruin in France and the trials and tribulations they faced in trying to restore it while spending more and more money trying to complete the project.  After reading the description of the book provided by the library,  that is exactly what I expected as well. Though there is some aspects of that,  it is less about the house and more about people.  It is about the authors and the people of the village who befriend them and invite them into village life. The author (Don Wallace) and his wife buy their ruin on Belle Ile off the coast of Brittany where they plan to spend several weeks a year. Both Wallace and his wife, Mindy, were born and spent their early years near the ocean; Mindy from Hawaii and Don from Southern California. Mindy earned a law degree along the way and both were writers, and surfers. On Belle Ile they spend time on the beach surfing, they hike the hills and search out fresh food in the markets and establish genuine friendships with their neighbors and the islands inhabitants, as well as discovering the islands history.   So who hasn't dreamed about moving to France (A Year in Provenance) or Italy (Under the Tuscan Sun) or some other foreign locale, buying and old house, restoring it and despite facing many frustrations and challenges and then living "happily ever after"? I know I have so I enjoyed reading about people who actually lived it.

Surfers of Belle Ile

Beach on Belle Ile

Hiking

At the end of the book the author and his family still come to Belle Ile for several weeks in the late summer but much has changed, old friends have died, children have grown up and many of the old houses have been or are being renovated (thankfully many in the Old Brenton way), more Paris people have built houses on vacant land, there are more surfers,more tourists. But the sun is still warm, the seas and skies still blue, the waves still good and friendships still endure.

I grew up in a part of California that reminded me of Wallace's description of parts of Belle Ile, a small beach community away from a large city, where every summer I spent most of my time on the beach with friends, loving the ocean, the sand and blue skies. There were many surfers, riding the waves or sitting on their boards, calmly bobbing along, looking out to sea waiting for a perfect wave. I now life far away from the ocean, landlocked, and I often miss being by the sea. The description of changes on Belle Ile reminded me of my home town, which is still beautiful but certainly has changed from the days I grew up there. Housing is expensive, new people have moved in, open land developed with either housing or restaurants and stores, but among them all many have remained living there moving into what is now thought of as "old age", often I wish I was still there, but I know what I miss is the place it used to be, not the place it has become.