Isabelle’s first memory was of following her goats walking in the hills of the Languedoc, in a small village in the mountains far away from the large and prosperous cities of Toulouse and Montpelier. Their family and those of her cousins were poor hill farmers, each with a small herd of sheep and goats from which they made a rich creamy cheese which they sold in the markets. Otherwise they subsisted on the meat and milk, along with vegetables from their garden and the occasional food they traded with each other and those who lived in towns nearby.
As a child Belle had few friends her own age and therefore had formed a close bond with the farm animals and with this land of rough and broken hills, particularly liking to go out with her goats and sit on a rock, dreaming as she surveyed the vast and barren vistas. She so loved to run with the goats, jumping from rock to rock, nimble and sure footed, imagining she was one of them, someone who could go anywhere they could, leaping from crag to crag.
She also loved to go to the village church. Despite the poor life of the villagers, somehow they had built this beautiful place. It was not large but it was a work of art. She loved to sit in there and look at the statue of the virgin, the windows with pictures of the Christ child glowing in the light, the muted colours of the marble floor and the finely carved timber work of the posts and nave. At those times she would talk to God and it seemed he answered her back.
Belle was a bright child so, despite her humble beginnings, she excelled at school. She had a natural ear for music and languages. She readily picked up both Italian and Spanish which she learned from an early age in the local village, with its Italian and Spanish farm labourers, and then, as she reached high school, at the nearby town school.
Her musical talent was nurtured by her parents. By the age of ten she was a competent player of both the aboès, the traditional oboe, which her mother loved to play and the bodega, a goatskin bagpipe, which was her father’s favourite. She learned as a child at their knees as she watched and listened in rapt fascination. Over time they taught her simple tunes and encouraged her efforts.
Later she graduated to also playing the guitar which she used to accompany her voice. It had a deep rich timbre, a few people joked that she was the new Piaf. She knew she was not in that class but it inspired her to sing some Piaf songs when giving impromptu performances. She particularly loved, “Je Ne Regrette Rien”. It suited her rich throaty voice.
Both her mother and father were talented musicians who played their instruments in a group which performed traditional French baroque music in the local towns and villages. Often she would go with them and it time she too played alongside them on occasions.
So, despite the family’s relative poverty, Belle had grown up with an insight into a much wider world beyond her home. When she finished school she won a scholarship to the Sorbonne, where she studied, Geography and Languages while she also continued to progress her music performing in a local group which mainly played the music of the south of France in the Latin quarter of Paris.
She was a top student at the University and gained top marks in her Geography Degree. In her studies she developed a fascination for the French sailors of the Pacific and the colonies they had founded.
So the following year she applied to study in the University of French Polynesia, based in Papeete. With outstanding marks she was awarded a scholarship which paid for travel along with tuition and living costs to study there for a year, as an early part of a research doctorate.