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A Year in Provence [Paperback]

Peter Mayle
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
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Book Description

1 Jun 2000

Enjoy an irresistible feast of humour and discover the joys of French rural living with Peter Mayle's bestselling, much-loved account of 'A Year In Provence'.

Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious two hundred year-old farmhouse in the Lubéron Valley and began a new life. In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life are conjured up in this enchanting portrait.


Frequently Bought Together

A Year in Provence + Toujours Provence + Encore Provence
Price For All Three: £20.67

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (1 Jun 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0140296034
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140296037
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.4 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 15,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

Who hasn't dreamed, on a mundane Monday or frustratingFriday, of chucking it all in and packing off to the south of France? Provençal cookbooks and guidebooks entice with provocatively fresh salads and azure skies, but is it really all Côtes-du-Rhône and fleur-de-lis? Author Peter Mayle answers that question with wit, warmth, and wicked candor in A Year in Provence, the chronicle of his own foray into Provençal domesticity.

Beginning, appropriately enough, on New Year's Day with a divine luncheon in a quaint restaurant, Mayle sets the scene and pits his British sensibilities against it. "We had talked about it during the long gray winters and the damp green summers," he writes, "looked with an addict's longing at photographs of village markets and vineyards, dreamed of being woken up by the sun slanting through the bedroom window." He describes in loving detail the charming, 200-year-old farmhouse at the base of the Lubéron Mountains, its thick stone walls and well-tended vines, its wine cave and wells, its shade trees and swimming pool--its lack of central heating. Indeed, not 10 pages into the book, reality comes crashing into conflict with the idyll when the Mistral, that frigid wind that ravages the Rhône valley in winter, cracks the pipes, rips tiles from the roof, and tears a window from its hinges. And that's just January.

In prose that skips along lightly, Mayle records the highlights of each month, from the aberration of snow in February and the algae-filled swimming pool of March through the tourist invasions and unpredictable renovations of the summer months to a quiet Christmas alone. Throughout the book, he paints colorful portraits of his neighbors, the Provençaux grocers and butchers and farmers who amuse, confuse, and befuddle him at every turn. A Year in Provence is part memoir, part homeowner's manual, part travelogue, and all charming fun. --L.A. Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Peter Mayle's work has been translated into twenty two languages. His previous books include A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence and his recent novels Anything Considered and Chasing Cezanne, available from Penguin.

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THE YEAR BEGAN with lunch. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Witty account of a year in a foreign country 15 Jun 2003
By Julie
Format:Paperback
A Year in Provence ... Peter Mayle is a master of wit in this book. He seems to effortlessly bring his characters to life with their amusing quirks and behaviours. It is a very witty account of the problems Mayle encountered trying to get settled in the new country - trying to adapt and be accepted. This really is one of my laugh out loud books, and I would recommend it as such. Most countries/cultures have a few funny little quirky behaviours, that can be considered amusing if you can step back and see the funny side of life. If you can approach this book with that view in mind, and light-heartedly enjoy the diversity of cultures and their customs/ behaviours, you will indeed enjoy and appreciate this book.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, could not put it down. 20 May 2002
Format:Paperback
I could not put it down it was very funny and has introduced me to his other books. Despite what some other reviews might say it is not a poke at the French people. It is very obvious that Mayle is in love with the people and the country.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully witty read. 28 Mar 2002
Format:Paperback
This is not a high-brow expose of French culture, but rather a pleasent account of a man and his wife doing what I wish I could, moving permanently to a quiet French village.
It's obvious that Peter Mayle is not short of a few pounds as he seems able to afford all rennovations to his house (any-one wishing to read an account of pennyless people moving to a foreign country should read 'Extra Virgin' by Annie Hawes) but this is not a DIY book either.
Peter Mayle has an effortless way to make his writing feel like a long letter to a friend.
You will not discover any ground breaking revelations here but, as one who spends time with an adopted continental family, I recognised many of the quirks which Peter Mayle describes (and my continental partner did not find it in the least offensive either). If you dont have a funny bone, dont read this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Eight years in Provence
Ironically, I've read this book after several years in Marseille. Though not Luberon as Peter Mayle, Provence nonetheless. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tanya Zilberter
1.0 out of 5 stars Annoyed
Superb book - but the Kindle edition has so many typos and spelling mistakes that I considered asking for money back, until I realised how long and pointless a task that would be. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Archie
5.0 out of 5 stars awesome
cannot believe that i waited this long to read the book, but so glad i did. it adds a different dimension to it. looking back on the way things were in 1987. Read more
Published 4 months ago by jamie
1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing
I had expected to read about the trials and tribulations of moving to live in a different culture, but instead this was just a very smug and self promoting account of a middle... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dav id
5.0 out of 5 stars thanks
Good service, good book, bought for husband as he lost a previous copy I got him before reading it! Hopefully he will read this one now. many thanks.
Published 6 months ago by She
5.0 out of 5 stars "Take this longing from my tongue...
whatever useless things that these hands have done." The previous quote is a line from a Leonard Cohen song, with the eponymous subject title. Read more
Published 7 months ago by John P. Jones III
5.0 out of 5 stars A Year in Provence
As I've said before, I really fancy retiring to the South of France. The lifestyle, the land and house with pool, oh and course the weather, I guess this has been my daydream for... Read more
Published 7 months ago by C. ANTJOULE
4.0 out of 5 stars Still the template
It now seems very quaint and idyllic. This was first of the flit-lit page turners and it is lovely to re-read and I am pleased that I discovered it again. Read more
Published 7 months ago by FranceInternational
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!
I read this book over a decade ago and it was a wonderful easy read, very funny, and would entice anyone to go to Provence. Read more
Published 10 months ago by A. Sweeney
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully-evocative read
A great read. Wonderfully-evocative of warm, sunny places. A real 'escape' from damp Britain and a book you can read over and over again. I also love the DVD, starring John Thaw.
Published 10 months ago by fithie
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