How to Make a French Family: A Memoir of Love, Food, and Faux Pas

(Paperback)

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Description

The heartwarming, hilarious story of the culture clashes and faux pas that add up to one happy French family Say bonjour to a whole new way of life! Take one French widower, his two young children, and drop a former city girl from Chicago into a small town in southwestern France. Shake vigorously... and voila- a blended Franco-American family whose lives will all drastically change. Floating on a cloud of newlywed bliss, Samantha couldn't wait to move to France to begin her life with her new husband, Jean-Luc, and his kids. But almost from the moment the plane touches down, Samantha realizes that there are a lot of things about her new home-including flea-ridden cats, grumpy teenagers, and language barriers-that she hadn't counted on. Struggling to feel at home and wondering when exactly her French fairy tale is going to start, Samantha isn't sure if she really has what it takes to make it in la belle France. But when a second chance at life and love is on the line, giving up isn't an option. How to Make a French Family is the heartwarming and sometimes hilarious story of the culture clashes and faux pas that , in the end, add up to one happy family.

Reviews

"An honest, heartwarming-and at times-heartbreaking account of the struggles that occur when you dare to make your dreams come true." - Janice MacLeod, author of New York Times bestseller Paris Letters
"Love has no boundaries inSamantha Verant'shonest and courageous memoir about leaving it all behind to marry her French husband. How to Make a French Family is a testament to her perseverance to adapt to a new life in Southwest France. In the tradition of Seven Letters from Paris, readers will laugh, cry, and cheer for Verant until the final page." - Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of Good Chinese Wife
"A charming and insightful memoir about what follows happily ever after. The fact that Samantha's quest to create a new family is set in France (and filled with recipes) makes it all the more delicious!" - Jennifer Coburn, author of We'll Always Have Paris
"How To Make A French Familyshares the ups and downs, good, bad and funny moments of building a new life and family in France, never letting us forget that in the end, love saves the day." - Kristen Beddard, author of Bonjour Kale
"Samantha Vrant dishes up a funny and tender memoir in How to Make a French Family. The setup is pure fairy tale but the tale's power is in the ever-after. Vrant's story is genuine, romantic, sometimes heartbreaking, and, in the end, as wonderfully satisfying and rich as the French cuisine detailed on its pages." - Michelle Gable, New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment and I'll See You in Paris
"Like its author, Samantha Verant's new book is sweet and sassy, told from the heart. Her story of creating a new family and becoming a different kind of mom is brave and vulnerable. A tale of what happens when we go looking for our best lives and best selves." - Elizabeth Bard, New York Times bestselling author of Lunch in Paris and Picnic in Provence
"Verant combines one part second chance at romance, on part travelogue, and nearly three dozen recipes in this heartfelt account of how she reconnected with a lover 20 years after their affair and started life over in France with an instant family. " - Publishers Weekly
"...charming and witty....Verant's memoir touches on universal, real-life themes, like love, loss, and family, while mixing in plenty of delicious French flavors (and actual recipes) that make for a tasty read that's true to the heart.

" - Booklist

Author Bio

SAMANTHA V RANT is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a determined, if occasionally unconventional, French chef. She lives in southwestern France, where she's married to a sexy French rocket scientist she met in 1989. She is the author of Seven Letters from Paris.