The first two books in the trilogy were enjoyable, but perhaps sitting between travel writing and the need to entertain they left a gap.
Now Jamie Ivey has found his stride, like a marathon runner who has gone through the pain barrier.
This is more intensely personal. The change in seasons is beautifully paced. One feels the biting cold of winter seeping off the pages and into aching joints, the burn of summer then scorching the pages as he narrates their year's journey from optimistic migrants to serious market traders.
The insight into this market world, one of France's greatest institutions, is enthralling. How for some traders it is a labour of love through the winter just to secure a summer pitch, yet the seasonal traders pedalling imports from the Far East to unsuspecting tourists enjoy tenure which belies their transient status. I will never view a French market in quite the same way, and will pay far more attention to which stalls the local patronise and where produce and prices are "correct".
At times this was simply addictive reading for a self confessed Francophile. Am I envious? Yes and no, but it has been a total blast and an enlightening experience to read the inside story of one couple's fight to establish themselvs in the markets.
None of the sweetened Maylesque characters or stereotypes (and I adore Peter Mayle's work), but an honest assessment of what it is like to be a foreigner seeking modest acceptance in an attempt to fulfill the dream which many of us have dared to only dream.
This is well worth the read, never heavy going, honestly written and I thoroughly recommend it even if you have not read the earlier books in the series.