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Former lover lives on French island following banishment (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

exile

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'banishment' is the definition.
(exile is a kind of banishment)

'former lover lives on french island' is the wordplay.
'former lover' becomes 'ex' (ex-lover).
'lives on french island' becomes 'ile' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ex'+'ile'='EXILE'

'following' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for exile that I've seen before include "Person banished from the home country" , "Throw out" , "Ban to abroad" , "Banish from one's country" , "Expulsion from one's country" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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