This travel memoir details the author's first year living in Provence with all of its beauty, some faults and a good dose of humor. And, a lot of description on what I can only assume to be the most delicious of foods.
The book, broken up into twelve chapters all titled for the months of the year, recounts the British couple's plan to fix up a house in Provence. Of course that's not always easy as they have to deal with everything from bad weather getting in the way to simply a new way of doing things in this foreign land.
The chapters I enjoyed most were when friends, or friends of friends, decided that now they knew someone in Provence and would invite themselves to the Mayle's home in Provence. I think the Mayle's quickly figured out that they needed to be firm or else they'd turn into a free B&B.
Of course Provence sounds charming and beautiful and this was a quick, light read. However I didn't feel as if I'd read something that was quite different for a travel memoir. Perhaps because I kept thinking of other books which also detail harried professionals chucking it all and moving to a delightful town somewhere in Europe (usually France or Italy) to restore a house and find happiness.
Added 10/07