Today’s book review is a fabulous memoir that rang more than a little true for me personally. The book, Tout Sweet, was provided courtesy of LuxuryReading.com, which also hosted the original (shorter) post of this book review, which is available here.

Tout Sweet (subtitled: “Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France”) is the story of Karen Wheeler, a rather high-end fashion journalist in London, who decides to pack her entire life up and leave the city to move to a rural village in France and renovate an old farmhouse. The decision is sparked by two things – the devastating end of her latest relationship and an increasing sense of ennui and disillusionment with her fashion-girl life and its obsessive focus on accumulating things. As you would expect, the story runs the emotional gamut – it alternates between hysterical ex-patriot escapades and old house/contractor challenges, heartbreaking moments of loneliness, uplifting tidbits of self-realization and demonstrations of inner strength. It is, in short, a story of everyday life.
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