Greetings dear readers and friends. I hope you are all having a lovely summer and I’m very happy to share with you a delightful read, I Am Finally Finally French.
Author Mark Greenside highlights many of the curiosities that come with living in la belle France in a collection of laugh-out-loud stories accumulated over 30 years spent in Brittany.
A former college professor, union leader, and VISTA volunteer – among other lifelong accolades – Mark is a writer whose work has been featured in numerous journals and magazines. After falling in love with a darling village in France, he’s lived part-time in Brittany over the last three decades.
Fully a member of the troisième age, as the later or “golden years” of one’s life are referred to in France, Mark looks back on his time spent with a colorful cast of characters swirling around his 120-year-old farmhouse in Plobien, Brittany.
Each chapter has a different, quirky theme – from the adventure of getting a solid WiFi connection (which ends after several escapades to Orange télécom and the gifting of a bottle of twelve-year-old Wild Turkey) to a seriously hilarious account of Mark trying to rid his chimney of bees… for the third time.
At the start of the book, I thought I was digging into a lighthearted romp of expat foibles in the Brittany countryside – a nice beach read of an American in France.
In fact, I Am Finally, Finally French (My Accidental Life in Brittany), turned out to have a much richer undercurrent – which not only touches on our shared human experiences (whatever language you might speak) but also takes a deeper look at how cultural underpinnings impact us at all stages of life – especially when we have more years behind us than ahead of us.
The book elegantly weaves together the author’s experiences with neighbors, friends, and house caretakers (30 years builds much more than a business relationship), and we come to understand that the French concept of time is a fluid one.
The past is always with you, walking beside you at every turn – what was once old may become new again and nothing is ever forgotten.
This also breeds a lot of patience and understanding. In France, we often need to accept things for what they are, not for what we would like them to be. A government office which did ABC service for you last year, now only provides XYZ service – but, may indeed go back to ABC in two years’ time.
The fire department that used to get rid of a beehive for free, as had been Mark’s experience, no longer offers that service. Who to find? Who to contact? How much, and when?
All important questions, that in the US would probably take a few minutes to solve, but in France can roll into several weeks or more.
So, why do we do it? Why, like Mark, do we absolutely love France and the French?
As he shows us, it’s all about the journey and the people we meet along the way. Like friends Jean-Pierre and Joelle who ride their bikes along the canal and pop in just to say “Bonjour,” or Madame P who knocks on Mark’s door before working in her garden, which happens to lie on the farmhouse property.
Along with Monsieur C, a plumber-friend and handyman extraordinaire, who can sit with Mark for a beer and a free-wheeling French / English conversation where most everything might be lost in translation, but nobody seems to notice or care.
Just sitting there, enjoying each other’s company, enjoying the time together.
These stories are only a small sampling of Mark’s extensive community in France – including close friends who invite him to a Château-palooza style wedding straight from lifestyles of the rich and famous, all the way to the nefarious-looking French “gang” who is finally able to take care of the dreaded beehive.
Funny, enlightening, and altogether entertaining, I loved I Am Finally, Finally French, and thought it gave a very accurate look at life in France – warts, bees, and all.
The book will be available in October 2025, and is published by Skyhorse Publishing.
Belle Provence Travels 