Reveiw: A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

Synopsis: Who hasn't dreamed, on a mundane Monday or frowzy Friday, 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. (from the description on Amazon)

Review: When I think of this book, the word "charming" seems to fit best. I found it for a few cents at a thrift store and I'm still unsure why I picked it up. However, I'm eternally glad I did! The prose is lite, humorous, well-crafted, beautiful and delightful. I laughed out loud several times, once even have to set the book down to because I could not breathe (the goat race scene had me crying I was laughing so hard). Mayle's description of the people and customs, his own response and their adventures are - charming! I enjoyed every minute of this book and was rather sad to see it end.

Bookmark: 8 of 10

Awards: British Book Awards Best Travel Book of the Year (1989)

Date Finished: 3-10-2011
Pages: 224