Frencholic: reality behind the french dream

By: Verhoeven, Arnold

France is beautiful. Until you live there.

In Frencholic, Arnold Verhoeven leaves the Netherlands behind and settles on the French Riviera, drawn by the promise of a life bathed in sun, elegance and effortless charm. What he finds is something entirely different.

As a hotelier and observer, Verhoeven is drawn into a world where appearances rarely match reality. Beneath the polished surface of the Riviera lies a landscape of contradictions: warmth and hostility, beauty and absurdity, freedom and rigid systems that resist change.

With a sharp eye and understated humour, he captures the moments that reveal what life in France truly feels like - not as a visitor, but as an outsider trying to belong.

This is not a travel guide, nor a romanticised portrait.

It is a personal account of navigating a culture that fascinates and frustrates in equal measure.

Frencholic is a story about expectation versus reality, about adapting or resisting, and about what remains when the dream of France meets real life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9090422765
• ISBN13: 9789090422763
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Arnold Verhoeven
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.9" x 7.9"