I came across Petite Anglaise's blog (yes, she's a blogger, for those of you that don't know) a couple years ago.  Aside from excellent writing, I was drawn in by her story.......a thirty-something originally from England, she'd been living in Paris for about 10 years working for a British accounting firm.  She was also living with the father of her toddler daughter.....she maintained full anonymity, referring to herself as Petite Anglaise, the boyfriend as Mr. Frog and the daughter as Tadpole. 

I enjoyed reading her tidbits of life in Paris as a single mom. (Francophile that I am)  So while I didn't visit her blog as regularly as I did many others, I still managed to keep up with what was going on in her life.  She shared with her readers her restlessness with the relationship with Mr. Frog and then shared the new relationship with "Jim in Rennes" who was a frequent commenter on her blog.  Imagine my surprise the day I "tuned in" to find out she'd been sacked from her job.  Yup, fired.  For what?  For blogging!  Her company stated that she'd been less than kind in some of her blog posts about the bosses and further stated and tried to prove that she'd blogged on company time.  Long story short.....she did lose her job.  However, she contacted the French tribunal and ended up winning her case to the tune of approximately $44,000.  Once that story broke in the media, her anonymous Petite Anglaise was gone forever......that summer her blog readers found out her name was, in fact, Catherine Sanderson.

Due to all of the publicity (both in England and France) with the media, she was offered a very significant two book contract.  Frankly, I was dismayed that somebody could end up with a lucrative publishing contract based on her blogging.  But that's what happened. 

The book was released in the UK this past March and it just hit the bookshelves here in the States on June 17.  I wasn't going to order it.  I figured, well heck, I've read her blog.  I know her story.  How different can the book be?  But since I'd enjoyed her writing and I do like to support other authors when possible, I decided to pre-order the book this past March.  It arrived last week.  I read it in two days!

It was good, very good.  But what impressed me the most was how she took those blog posts and managed to weave them into a story that read like fiction.  And I was wrong.  Because she wrote from a deeper emotional depth in the book, it wasn't like her blog at all and I didn't feel like I was re-reading stuff I'd already read. 

But one thing struck me as I read along......and she even does make mention of this.  I had often wondered when reading her blog how much of the info was real.  I sometimes got the feeling that she was "playing her audience."  Well, come to find out, she was.  No, no......it's not that WHAT she said and told us wasn't true, but rather she embellished on it.  She admitted she felt a compulsion to share details (many times pretty intimate ones) with her readers.  She was hooked and what ended up happening was, that what started as an online diary and a diversion soon turned into a soap opera.  The lines between Catherine's real and virtual personas began to blur, tempting her to leave Mr. Frog for "Jim in Rennes."  She had created her own intoxicating alter ego.

I enjoyed the book a lot but I have to say, as I read along I detected a sadness from the author.  Maybe it was just me.  Maybe it was my instinct.  But I couldn't help but feel that here was a very intelligent, attractive, young woman living a nice life in Paris, and yet.......it didn't seem to be enough for her.  Somehow happiness had seemed to elude her. 

I can only hope that with the release of the book and her marriage on June 7......no, she didn't marry Jim from Rennes, nor did she marry Mr. Frog.......that she will now find the true meaning of happiness.

The book also got me to wondering about the blog world in general.........for the most part, I'd say what you see, is what you get with bloggers.  They post their real name, photos of their homes, their families, their dogs, etc.  But I'm sure there's a fair amount that create themselves in the blog world to their readers.  Perhaps they become that person they always wanted to be.  While I think blogging is wonderful and I've made some incredible friends, learned some unique things, I can't help but feel a sadness for some.  That rather than go "out" there and create their destiny.......somehow they settle for doing it through a keyboard. 

As bloggers and/or blog readers, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on this.

See you here next time.............