Another Side of France

In 1966, Dave Taylor-Jones met a French girl in Paris who became one of the most influential people in his life. Christine and her family introduced him to the French lifestyle, food, and their unique way of looking at the world. Through them, he learnt to speak French (almost), bought a flat near Nice, found a job in Monaco and moved to live in France, all of which helped him to dispel the stereotypical image that some British people have of the French.

Another Side of France records some of his experiences of French life in a humourous manner, and contains both essays and stories, presented like two sides of a coin, alternating slices of fiction with his life experiences.

The fiction includes ghost stories, with the haunting of Nice’s Terra Amata Museum, the Parisian Metro, and a local medieval chateau. There are also stories are about working in Monaco, the joys of air travel, auctions of Impressionist masters and knowing your own limits of compassion.

Dave’s essays capture how he has tried to get to grips with the French medical system, country life in the foothills of the Alpes-Maritimes, wine, beekeeping and his love of dogs and birds.