Two expatriates take a lighthearted and well-structured look at trans-Atlantic cultural differences.
A married couple recall their misadventures while buying and renovating a house in France in their debut memoir.
After years of working as TV writers in Hollywood, Cynthia and William Royce were ready for a new adventure. While on vacation in the charming Dordogne region of southwestern France, William proposed that they realize his long dream of living in Europe by buying an inexpensive property to fix up. “This is when his dream started to really scare me,” Cynthia writes. As chapters alternate between their two perspectives, the couple tell the story of their shuttling between Los Angeles and the quaint villages of Périgord Noir, where they searched for a house while also trying to adopt an infant they didn’t want to raise in Hollywood. They eventually settled on the idyllic Villa Page, a 200-year-old former hunting lodge with a private island, but humorous misunderstandings, often linked to their lack of fluency in French, plagued the purchase and eventual remodel. A cranky architect suggested that their Parisian real estate agent was a gangster, the former owner’s homespun electrical work left exposed wires, and their friendly neighbor casually revealed that the warped floors probably resulted from the year Villa Page didn't have a roof. Just as things started coming together, they received the happy news from California that they could adopt a baby girl, who soon joined their family. Cynthia and William mine the he-said, she-said structure for plenty of comedic irony—Cynthia refers to a property as “a ruin” while William describes it as part of a “dream…taking flight”—but the device never becomes cloying. While long descriptions of the renovation can be less interesting, both writers excel at describing their cultural and linguistic mishaps, from mixing up numbers to having to pantomime “lawn mower.” The first installment in a planned memoir series about their move, the book includes dozens of pages of high-quality, uncredited color photographs of Villa Page and its environs. Throughout, they pepper their story with just enough French vocabulary, wine, and cheese to give the entire book that certain je ne sais quoi.
Two expatriates take a lighthearted and well-structured look at trans-Atlantic cultural differences.Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62006-257-9
Page Count: 151
Publisher: Sunbury Press Inc.
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Smart, engaging sportswriting—good reading for organization builders as well as Pats fans.
Prolific writer Benedict has long blended two interests—sports and business—and the Patriots are emblematic of both. Founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots, the team built a strategic home field between that city and Providence. When original owner Billy Sullivan sold the flailing team in 1988, it was $126 million in the hole, a condition so dire that “Sullivan had to beg the NFL to release emergency funds so he could pay his players.” Victor Kiam, the razor magnate, bought the long since renamed New England Patriots, but rival Robert Kraft bought first the parking lots and then the stadium—and “it rankled Kiam that he bore all the risk as the owner of the team but virtually all of the revenue that the team generated went to Kraft.” Check and mate. Kraft finally took over the team in 1994. Kraft inherited coach Bill Parcells, who in turn brought in star quarterback Drew Bledsoe, “the Patriots’ most prized player.” However, as the book’s nimbly constructed opening recounts, in 2001, Bledsoe got smeared in a hit “so violent that players along the Patriots sideline compared the sound of the collision to a car crash.” After that, it was backup Tom Brady’s team. Gridiron nerds will debate whether Brady is the greatest QB and Bill Belichick the greatest coach the game has ever known, but certainly they’ve had their share of controversy. The infamous “Deflategate” incident of 2015 takes up plenty of space in the late pages of the narrative, and depending on how you read between the lines, Brady was either an accomplice or an unwitting beneficiary. Still, as the author writes, by that point Brady “had started in 223 straight regular-season games,” an enviable record on a team that itself has racked up impressive stats.
Smart, engaging sportswriting—good reading for organization builders as well as Pats fans.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982134-10-5
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.
The third volume in the Elephant Whisperer series.
In this follow-up to An Elephant in My Kitchen, Malby-Anthony continues her loving portrait of the Thula Thula wildlife reserve, which she co-founded in 1998 with her late husband, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who published the first book in the series, The Elephant Whisperer, in 2009. Following his death in 2012, Malby-Anthony sought to honor his legacy by continuing his vision “to create a massive conservancy in Zululand, incorporating our land and other small farms and community land into one great big game park.” At the same time, the elephants gave her “a sense of purpose and direction.” In the Zulu language, thula means quiet, and though the author consistently seeks to provide that calm to her charges, peace and tranquility are not always easy to come by at Thula Thula. In this installment, Malby-Anthony discusses many of the challenges faced by her and her staff, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. These included an aggressive, 2-ton rhino named Thabo; the profound loss felt by all upon the death of their elephant matriarch, Frankie; difficulty obtaining permits and the related risk of having to relocate or cull some of their animals; the fear of looting and fire due to civil unrest in the region; and the ongoing and potentially deadly struggles with poachers. Throughout, the author also shares many warm, lighthearted moments, demonstrating the deep bond felt among the humans and animals at the reserve and the powerful effects of the kindness of strangers. “We are all working in unity for the greater good, for the betterment of Thula Thula and all our wildlife….We are humbled by the generosity and love, both from our guests and friends, and from strangers all around the world,” writes the author. “People’s open-hearted support kept us alive in the darkest times.”
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284259
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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