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Overview
They had been there often as tourists. They had cherished the dream of someday living all year under the Provencal sun. And suddenly it happened.Here is the month-by-month account of the charms and frustrations that Peter Mayle and his wife — and their two large dogs — experience their first year in the remote country of the Luberon restoring a two-centuries-old stone farmhouse that they bought on sight. From coping in January with the first mistral, which comes howling down from the Rhone Valley and wreaks havoc with the pipes, to dealing as the months go by with the disarming promises and procrastination of the local masons and plumbers, Peter Mayle delights us with his strategies for survival. He relishes the growing camaraderie with his country neighbors — despite the rich, soupy, often impenetrable patois that threatens to separate them. He makes friends with boar hunters and truffle hunters, a man who eats foxes, and another who bites dentists; he discovers the secrets of handicapping racing goats and of disarming vipers. And he comes to dread the onslaught of tourists who disrupt his tranquillity.
In this often hilarious, seductive book Peter Mayle manages to transport us info all the earthy pleasures of Provencal life and lets us live vicariously in a tempo governed by seasons, not by days. George Lang, who was smitten, suggests: "Get a glass of marc, lean back in your most comfortable chair, and spend a delicious year in Provence."
An entertaining account of a year in Provence spent in a remote 200 year old Frech farmhouse. Told by an escapee from the advertising world.
Synopsis
National Bestseller
In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
This lyrical, witty ode to Provence has become the template for scores of travel essays by Mayle admirers. None of them, however, can match the blend of lighthearted humor and sensuous detail that Mayle offers his readers in A Year in Provence. The chronicle of a former advertiser who undertakes the renovation of a ancient French farmhouse, A Year in Provence introduces readers to a wealth of quirky characters, lucious meals, and innumerable mishaps as the author and his wife settle into the Provençal lifestyle.From the Publisher
“Engaging, funny and richly appreciative.” — The New York Times
“Stylish, witty, delightfully readable.”—The Sunday Times (London)
“A Francophile’s delight, this is a highly entertaining book.”—Library Journal
“I really loved this book.”—Julia Child