Rai, the English adventurer in X in Provence, finds herself facing a new set of cultural phenomena when she moves countries, or rather continents, to be with her lover. Back in Europe from a long stint in Hong Kong, the extent of the culture shock she experiences comes….well, as rather a shock.
“Love yourself,” my parents used to say to me, “believe in yourself and you can do anything”. A truism worthy of a pedestal deserving of a dais. I grew up recognizing the divinity of these words. And yet… how do you manufacture confidence when you don’t have a stock of it, due to whatever reasons, and there are a multitude.
Provence had been simmering in my mind as the setting for a book ever since my travels there, a sandwich stop between career changes. Over time that simmering turned into a certitude.