A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle Reviews

At some point in the late 1990s, probably when I was studying Higher French and becoming more interested in the culture and lifestyle of France, I picked up my dads copy of A Year In Provence. I was enticed by the watercolour painting of a vineyard and pretty house on the cover, and the blurb on the back promising me tales of beautiful Provence, ...  Read the complete review

A YEAR IN PROVENCE BY PETER MAYLE After missing the entire TV series staring the late John Thorn. I decided to read the book that so many friends have such varying opinions as to its merits on lack of merits. For me it is a little pot boiler of a book. The 190 or so pages make it an ideal fill in between more substantial tomes. ...  Read the complete review

The time of choosing was upon us again. Would I plump for a Francis? A Koontz? A Mansell? An author I was familiar with? Nah, went for a Mayle. A Peter Mayle. An author and book that I had only fleetingly heard about when John Thaws visual offering of 'A Year in Provence' had been a flop. I never saw the program. I had never read any ...  Read the complete review

The reason I ask that question is that his book "A Year in Provence" and it's sequel "Toujours Provence" has probably been responsible for more French language courses to have been sold than any other promotional source. Even those of us who probably won't take "le plunge" and up sticks to move to ...  Read the complete review

Have you ever dreamt of giving up everything and moving to another country, slipping into the gentler lifestyle and experiencing, and indeed being part of, a whole new culture? Do you long to pass your lane in the rat race onto someone else? In that case read A Year in Provence at your peril, because by the end of chapter one you’ll have ...  Read the complete review

I'm sure that the majority of people in Britain - and across the world by now - will have read and been enchanted by Peter Mayall's sumptuously written and highly evocative portrayal of French life. The anecdotes and observations are penetrating, and as a veteran of countless Gallic forays and A-level French myself I was soon smiling ...  Read the complete review

Peter Mayle's idyllic account of rural life in Provence has become a best seller and deservedly so. He and his wife threw caution to the wind, sold up in England and bought a twenty year old farm house in the Luberon and started a new life. The book begins in January (there are twelve chapters - one for each month of the year) with a ...  Read the complete review