Sarah Jane, husband and dogs find themselves, after much preliminary planning, at their recently purchased home in the country in France. House in terrible condition, back account nearly the same. But they soldier on buying materials & repairing the decrepit place, getting acquainted with their only-French speaking neighbors, and accepting their vegetable handouts. Lovely words evoke pictures of pastoral settings. ( )

73 of 75 for 2015. How do we categorize this work? Memoir? yes, certainly. Travel? That too. How to guide? Perhaps. And the question at the bottom of all is are the Butfields gypsies? The author poses that very question toward the end of her account of the family's first few years renovating a delapidated farm house in rural France. In her first book, Butfield tells the story of how this British family emigrated to Australia and their triumphs and tribulations down under. Two Dogs relates how the couple moved from Australia to rural France, and what they faced there. The title refers to the way they arrived in France with two Australian cattle dogs and one suitcase full of those belongings they felt necessary until their household goods could be shipped from Australia--a process that should have taken four months or so. The subtitle refers to the fact that we have two anglophones trying to survive in rural France where they neither speak, read nor understand the language. If you've ever had the dream of moving to a foreign country and reinventing your life--especially if that involves renovating a dilapidated piece of property, you need to read this book. It gets only four stars from me because the author's narrative style, while largely linear, skips back and forth in time enough that I was not able to tell how much time the story actually covers. Also the book is full of spelling and grammatical mistakes that should have been caught before the book was published, the kinds of errors that make me stumble in my reading. That said, given the situation Ms. Butfield faced, I can't say that I would have done any better, if as well. The reader does get the feeling that he's right there in the heart of the matter, and the local color is excellent--especially for any of us who have dealt with being in rural France, or had to deal with French bureaucracy. (It's hard enough if you speak the language. I can't imagine fighting it with no French language skills.) ( )