Fremantle author Annie de Monchaux has lived a great deal of her life in France. Her empathy with the country, its people and customs shines through in her new book Audrey’s Gone AWOL, a cheerful yet poignant tale of a middle-aged woman looking to find herself.
Annie wrote a book, Cray Tales, in the 1990s while living in Geraldton, she tells Have a Go News.
“I interviewed a lot of cray fishermen and went out and learned how to be one, I think I was a little bit crazy because I had three children aged under three then.
“I became a single mother and I’m a nurse by profession so there was absolutely no time. I wrote a few newspaper articles and, in 2014, moved to France and I just felt that the cultural attitude here towards ageing was much different.
“Europeans don’t have a fixed idea of beauty like we do here. And I’m a big fan of the older woman.
“I thought I had always wanted to write again, and I decided to make my heroine an older woman. Having been a nurse, I’ve listened to lots of stories, and I’ve heard the heartache women go through when there is a transition in their life from either not being a mother, to being a mother or an empty nester.”
The result is Audrey’s Gone AWOL, a story about Audrey Lamont who has happily devoted herself to family life for the best part of 40 years. But lately she’s become aware that she has lost herself somewhere between ‘I do’ and the weekly shop.
Worse, her academic husband Simon has found time for romance, but not with Audrey. Feeling invisible to everyone even herself, she flees to her aunt’s home in rural France.
The story that unfolds is captivating and full of colourful characters.
Annie says Audrey’s old way of thinking was in Australia where her husband and mother-in-law dominated her.
“The world and society is a little bit cruel about getting older and, so, by physically shifting Audrey to France where the culture is different, and the garden was ramshackle and everybody’s much less uptight; it was like a physical shift in her mind as well.
“It was to give her the opportunity to think for herself. I invented the village, but it was absolutely based on the village where I lived. And we did have a village horse, and all my neighbours were that quirky.”
Annie says she never meant to live in Australia. She came for a six-week holiday in the 80s and “in those days being a nurse was very popular so you could gain your residency quite easily.
“But I met and married quickly and had three children, then the marriage ended. Then, when my kids were all at university, I left them the house so they could study and returned to France.”
Annie later remarried after a nine-year courtship and headed with her second husband back to France. “We would probably still be there if it wasn’t for Covid. Living here means I’m close to my kids and we live in a great part of the world.”
Annie says she believes that culturally the French do not have a fixed idea of beauty.
“They have an expression ‘I am good in myself.’ They don’t believe that you have to have a face like a flat screen TV to be regarded as beautiful.
“Also, the drive to make massive profits just isn’t there to the same degree – not in rural France. The people like to live at their own speed.
“The concept of money is very different. Home ownership is not a driving force. If your granny happens to own her own house, you’ll probably inherit it and consider yourself lucky.”
Annie says she has attended a few festivals and book clubs and stores to talk about her book. Most of the people attending are aged between 40 and 80.
“It’s like chatting with friends. People have said, ‘have you been looking in my bathroom window?’ and I feel they have been happy to see themselves on the page.”
Annie has a two-book deal with Ultimo Press and her second book is due for release in April next year.
Audrey’s Gone AWOL ($34.99, Ultimo Press), is available now at all good bookshops.
It is also available on Kindle and as an audio book.
