The dream of buying a French property takes us on a lighthearted rollercoaster ride of neighbour conflict, dentist visits, deportation by border police, wine harvests, tennis exploits, a Renoir-style wedding, colliding particles, and Kafka-esque visa controls.

At a deeper level, each escapade provides clues to another 'foreign land', what Jesus refers to as the kingdom. Not so much a place as a different way of living. Little by little, I find myself dreaming about heaven on earth:

• talking less, listening, and loitering more

• appreciating 'foreign' etiquette

• rolling with the rhythms of rural life

• dealing with 'false friends' and enjoying new ones

• seeing the virtue of not always winning

• discovering what really matters, and what really doesn't...

.... I might have learned these lessons anywhere. It could have been in Finchley or Philadelphia, but it turned out to be in France.

The story is engaging and filled with word pictures, but it is much more than a simple narrative. Chris manages to wind an authentic silver thread around life, faith, and truth, thereby offering a unique model of spiritual spring-cleaning.

Adrian Plass, author of Still Crazy and The Shadow Doctor