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The Well
by Mike Briley
a novel set in south West France

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France was associated with happy memories for Peter. His mother had been a French teacher and had been in love with France and everything French. In fact Peter often wondered if his father had been French but his mother had always refused to discuss the subject and now it was too late. She had died of cancer the year before. At least once a year, sometimes two or even three times, they would go to France and stay with various friends that his mother made so easily. His mother, who was a very logical person, decided to start with the north of France and to move progressively further south on each trip. Once they got to the Dordogne region, however, her logic abandoned her and she fell passionately in love with that region. From then on they went to the Dordogne every year. Not to the same friends, not to the same towns and villages but always to the Dordogne. There were also trips to Paris, of course, but his mother always said that Paris was Paris and France was France and although they coexisted they were totally different. Although Peter loved Paris he preferred what he liked to refer to as "deepest France", the France of Clochemerle, of Alphonse Daudet, of Marcel Pagnol.

Tourist information about south west France

When his mother became too ill to travel he had visited France by himself once or twice. He had gone further south and had discovered the Midi and Provence. He made friends less easily than his mother. In spite of his numerous visits to France and all of his mother's efforts his French was rather poor. In particular he had an awful English accent which he could not disguise. Nevertheless he knew people he could stay with in France. Jean Bourainé, for example, had repeatedly invited him to his weekend house in the Black Mountains somewhere between Toulouse and Montpellier. In fact only a few days earlier Peter had received an e-mail from Jean where he had repeated the invitation. Jean was Professor of Climatology at the University of Toulouse and the company were about to print a book that he had written on global warming. He and Peter had met at a Conference on The Weather in the 21st Century and they had immediately struck up a friendship. Like Peter, Jean enjoyed eating, drinking and hill walking. Apparently his weekend house was really isolated in the hills and a perfect place for exploring the Black Mountains, an area Peter did not know at all.

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