When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
food / travel

British, Broke & Single In France: Desperate Expat Ex-Wives

A dispatch from the new front line of expat rural life from Maria-Louise Sawyer, who came to the Charente region with her husband in 2002, only to find herself alone and broke nine years later.

Sèvre Niortaise river in Niort, Deux-Sèvres, France
Sèvre Niortaise river in Niort, Deux-Sèvres, France
Catherine Rollot

CHARENTE - When she looks out of the window of her dining room, Maria-Louise Sawyer could almost think that she is still in the English countryside. Endless fields dotted with a few farms, horses, and a mild climate. When they moved to Charente in 2002 from the UK, she and her husband thought they had found their own little piece of paradise: a green and pleasant land just like back home, made perfect by that French quality of life coveted by all.

A few years later, the dream turned into a nightmare. At the age 54, this native from the Devon county in southwestern England suddenly found herself without a husband or money, living alone in the small village Chazelles some ten miles outside the main town of Angoulême. After 26 years of marriage, her husband had suddenly returned to England – taking all their savings with him.

Despite her troubles, Mrs Sawyer is no ‘desperate housewife." For the last six months, she has been writing a blog addressed to other expats like herself, whose husbands have either died or left them to fend for themselves amid terrible financial and legal problems.

The success of her site called Waif (Women Alone in France) has exceeded all of her expectations. More than a thousand people have contacted her so far, most of whom are British women of all ages and now live alone in the heart of the French countryside. They are all keen to share their difficulties with her over the Internet or read the free advice given in the blog.

Maria-Louise speaks excellent French with a charming British accent and tells the tale of her reversal of fortune with humor. Like so many British people, she had always dreamed of coming to live in France. "I used to work in a big American company. I had a very stressful life. I wanted to relax and taste the French version of ‘la dolce vita,"" she says. She managed to convince her husband, who had already retired, to make the dream come true and move to France.

In 2002, the couple sold their house in Devon and bought what is known as a maison de maître - an elegant bourgeois village house - in the northern part of the Charente region. The first few months were idyllic and Maria-Louise started to work in real estate. Her specialty was English buyers, who were at that time attracted by the low house prices in France. "I would sell two houses a day," she recalls. But if business was going well, life at home was stalling: "My husband did not learn to speak French. He just stayed at home all day, and then started to be jealous of my success and the way I managed to fit in."

Things got really rough in 2007. The slump in sterling and the global recession hit British buyers. Houses were no longer easy to sell. When Maria-Louise came home one day in March 2008 she found a note saying: "I've left." Her husband had also taken all the furniture and all the money from their joint bank account.

The months that followed were hell. Maria-Louise could not sell her house or pay off her debts. Without any family, she had no one to count on but herself. In March 2010 she decided to sell her story to The Mail, an English tabloid, for 300 euros in order to pay water and electricity bills. The publication of the article elicited a huge response from the public. "The author of the article got in touch with me to ask me if I wanted to answer to all these people. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that it would be useful to give them all some practical advice.", Maria-Louise says. This is how the idea of launching a blog was born. Her lawyer, Jean-Michel Camus, a former President of the Bar Association in Angoulême, agreed to post free advice on the French legal system; a doctor who wishes to remain anonymous offers details about the very complicated French health system.

Based in Angoulême for the last 20 years and fully bilingual, Camus says a third of his clientele are British expats. And it would seem that Maria-Louise Sawyer's case is not at all exceptional. "The differences between French and English laws make divorcing a far more complicated matter. People are never sure of which legal system -- French or English -- applies in France. Financial implications are often unclear as well, because the English system does not recognize the same principles of spousal support or compensation as the French system", he explains. There are actually a lot of cases of uncontested divorce, for the simple reason that sometimes people leave without giving so much as a forwarding address."

Each day, Maria-Louise Sawyer gives online counselling to women who are often in great distress. The stories she hears are all different but they have one thing in common: isolation. Heaver Davey, 47, and mother of two, arrived in the region in 2007 with her partner. Two years later, she was single and broke. Thanks to Waif, she is now trying to get back on her feet, having set up a pet-sitting business in her home.

"The people who write to me need solid, practical advice, not pity about their plight," Sawyer says. She is not at all interested in all the marriage proposals or dating offers she often receives. Keeping a distance and strict confidentiality is a must; she never publishes any of the private adviceshe gives her online companions.

A few months ago, Maria-Louise managed to sell her house and buy a smaller one. Thanks to the odd English lesson and the all-too-rare jobs she gets, she lives today on less than 400 euros a month. With her three dogs keeping her company, she has also learnt to deal with solitude. She tries not to dwell much on the past. And nothing in the world could make her go back to the UK. "My life is here, there is nothing left for me over there," she explains, adding that: "There is this excellent French phrase which perfectly describes my situation: ‘un accident de la vie" (one of life's accidents)" or as you would say in dear old Blighty: just one of those things…

Read the original article in English.

Photo - Dynamosquito

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

How Vulnerable Are The Russians In Crimea?

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the occupied Crimean peninsula, and Russia is doing all within its power to deny how vulnerable it has become.

Photograph of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with smoke rising above it after a Ukrainian missile strike.

September 22, 2023, Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia: Smoke rises over the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters after a Ukrainian missile strike.

TASS/ZUMA
Kyrylo Danylchenko

This article was updated Sept. 26, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.

Russian authorities are making a concerted effort to downplay and even deny the recent missile strikes in Russia-occupied Crimea.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

Media coverage in Russia of these events has been intentionally subdued, with top military spokesperson Igor Konashenkov offering no response to an attack on Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, or the alleged downing last week of Russian Su-24 aircraft by Ukrainian Air Defense.

The response from this and other strikes on the Crimean peninsula and surrounding waters of the Black Sea has alternated between complete silence and propagating falsehoods. One notable example of the latter was the claim that the Russian headquarters building of the Black Sea fleet that was hit Friday was empty and that the multiple explosions were mere routine training exercises.

Ukraine claimed on Monday that the attack killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. "After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Another 105 occupiers were wounded. The headquarters building cannot be restored," the Ukrainian special forces said via Telegram.

But Sokolov was seen on state television on Tuesday, just one day after Ukraine claimed he'd been killed. The Russian Defense Ministry released footage of the admiral partaking in a video conference with top admirals and chiefs, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, though there was no verification of the date of the event.

Moscow has been similarly obtuse following other reports of missiles strikes this month on Crimea. Russian authorities have declared that all missiles have been intercepted by a submarine and a structure called "VDK Minsk", which itself was severely damaged following a Ukrainian airstrike on Sept. 13. The Russians likewise dismissed reports of a fire at the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, attributing it to a mundane explosion caused by swamp gas.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refrained from commenting on the military situation in Crimea and elsewhere, continuing to repeat that everything is “proceeding as planned.”

Why is Crimea such a touchy topic? And why is it proving to be so hard to defend?

Keep reading...Show less

The latest