This was a book that couldn't figure out what it was. At first it was very interesting, finding the house, buying, dealing with local contractors. It was similar to _A Year in Provence_. Then, annoyingly, it turned into a cookbook. Then it turned into a garden variety travel journal; "We went here, we ate there, we saw this". Then we got the cookbook again and near the end we got to read about her religious views. I'm going back to Peter Mayle.