If Wishes Were Horses . . .

Funny and poignant, a recently widowed American woman's account of her struggles to cope with the French (both the language and the people) provides a long overdue corrective to Peter Mayle's idyllic portraits of Provence. ``Like bad hair days, there are bad French days,'' reflects 40-something Anna Green Devlin, who has taken a villa in the South of France, ``and when they happen the language is no more comprehensible than beautiful, but unfamiliar music.'' Unfortunately, the entertaining saga of Anna's attempts to become a chatelaine francaise is interrupted by cliched third-person flashbacks describing her courtship by Nick Devlin that depict such improbable situations as Nick appearing nude before an elevator full of convention delegates while pursuing Anna. Pascal, creator of the Sweet Valley High series for young adults, throws in plenty of piquant details--Anna is a Jewish princess and successful rock-music lyricist with a daughter somewhere back in the States--but since the novel covers only her romance with Nick and her widowhood, readers ultimately become impatient for these details to be explained. Anna in France is a treat; the rest of her story doesn't come to life. (Jan.)