Anywhere But Bordeaux by Jacqueline King Donnelly (5 stars)

Anywhere But Bordeaux: Adventures of an American Teacher in France by Jacqueline Donnelly

If there was ever a book more tailored to me, I haven’t found it. I have been in a bit of a slump lately, even with reading, and the fact of there being no end in sight to the ban on international travel has just had me feeling really down. This book was the perfect remedy. I may not be able to travel for recreational purposes soon but this book reminded me of all the wonderful opportunities out there for forging my own way and figuring out how to make long-term travel not just possible, but integral to my life and career plan.

Anywhere But Bordeaux is the travel memoir of Jacqueline Donnelly who participates in a teacher exchange program. She teaches French in the US and has travelled to France many times, but she and her husband decide to take the plunge and spend an entire year working and travelling around France. She applies and is accepted to a teacher exchange program and trades positions and houses with a woman named Monique and her family.

Donnelly is an awesome story teller. The book is so funny but also has elements of drama and suspense. I was most disappointed by the cliffhanger ending because I wanted to hear more about Monique! Monique and her family, at least in Donnelly’s retelling, are eccentric and strange and the details of their relationship over such a vast distance had me laughing and groaning throughout the entire book. Donnelly did an amazing job of describing the highs and lows of her experiences teaching in France and it is obvious that she is a veteran teacher for how dedicated she was to seeing it through to the end of the year. Donnelly has to deal with working through a teacher’s strike, a change in the school administration, and students who have no interest in learning her stilted American English after being taught British English throughout their education, not to mention a hurricane that resulted in a loss of power for weeks!

The title is based on the fact that Donnelly and her husband have visited France many times and the one place they could find nothing charming about was Bordeaux, so naturally that was exactly the region the exchange program landed them in. It was fast-paced and charming and I tore through it in a day. As a teacher who would love to spend a year or more in France, it was exactly what I needed to come across right now. And free on Kindle Unlimited!

5 stars!