Expat Tales
- A Chateau of One's Own - Sam Juneau
Sam and Bud were ordinary first-time homebuyers in their early thirties.
Their intention, in moving to France, was to create a simple life in a place where they could spend time with their children.
The home they actually bought was a 17th century chateau in the Loire valley with over thirty rooms.
Sam Juneau was born in New Orleans and has been a television producer and writer in the US and the UK since 1992. His wife grew up on a farm in Ireland. They live in France with their four children and 22 cats.
- A Harvest of Sunflowers - Ruth Silvestre
Twenty years after first setting eyes on Bel-Air de Grezelongue, her dream house in the sunflowers in south-west France, Ruth Silvestre brings us the long-awaited sequel to the adventures. Local friendships and bonds of loyalty that she and her family formed during the gradual restoration of their once derelict farmhouse have now deepened.
RUTH SILVESTRE is a singer and actress, her most famous role being Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha at the Piccadilly Theatre. She has published many articles on France, and a number of children's books. She divides her time between London and France.
- A House in the Sunflowers - Ruth Silvestre
This is the story of a dream come true. In 1976, in the Lot-et-Garonne region of south-west France, Ruth Silvestre and her family found Bel-Air de Grezelongue, a house that had been left, deserted and uninhabited for ten years. They fell in love with it.
RUTH SILVESTRE is a singer and actress, her most famous role being Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha at the Piccadilly Theatre. She has published many articles on France, and a number of children's books. She divides her time between London and France.
- A Perfect Circle - Susie Kelly
Keen to discover some of France’s lesser-known attractions, Susie Kelly and her husband Terry embarked with their two dogs on a 10,000 kilometre journey, where they encountered exploding gherkins, killer waves, chilli-flavoured chocolates, sinister submarines, and pitchforks grown in fields.
Susie Kelly emigrated from London to Kenya with her parents at the age of seven, and endured a convent education until she was expelled for refusing to devote her Saturday mornings to making doll’s clothes, as she preferred to go horse riding. In 1975 she returned to live in England with a husband and two small children. Since then she has acquired a second and much better husband, a fine son-in-law and four gorgeous grandchildren - Catherine, Jamie, Jasmine and Leonie. Home is an ancient farmhouse, in the process of renovation, in southwest France, shared with a menagerie of goats, horses, dogs, cats, parrots and fish. She is the author of Best Foot Forward and Two Steps Backward, and A Perfect Circle.
- A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle
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 spent 15 years in the advertising business, first as a copywriter and then as a reluctant executive, before escaping Madison Avenue in 1975 to write educational books for children. In 1990 Mayle published A Year in Provence, which became an international bestseller; his books have since been translated into more than 20 languages, Mayle has contributed to The Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Independent, GQ, and Esquire. He and his wife, Jennie, and their dogs live in the south of France.
- Almost French - Sarah Turnbull
As a student at university, Sarah Turnbull dropped French after failing the subject during her first year.
Then, during a career break from journalism to travel the world, she found herself changing her plans to settle permanently in Paris. Almost French is the witty account of her new life in Paris and the difficulties she faces in trying to integrate fully into Parisian culture while trying to establish herself as a freelance journalist.
Sarah Turnbull is an international freelance writer. Formerly a television journalist with SBS, she began working in print media after moving to France from Sydney eight years ago. Since then she has been writing regularly; in the 1998 MPA awards Sarah was named Feature Writer of the Year for three investigative stories published in marie claire
- An Englishman a la Campagne - Michael Sadler
The Parisien now wants to be a paysan, but it's easier said than done . . . How do you plant leeks in cement-hard French soil, impress Gallic neighbours with your non-existent gardening credentials and survive a seven-hour celebratory communion lunch (followed by dinner)?
Michael Sadler is a writer and academic. Born in Lewes, he now lives in Paris, where he teaches an MA course in Contemporary French Studies at the British Institute. He is married with one daughter and grows his own leeks.
- An Englishman Amoureux - Michael Sadler
Love in deepest France . . . After the romantic encounter in the Loire Valley bathroom at the end of AN ENGLISHMAN A LA CAMPAGNE Sadler dumps the University of Swindon and returns to France intent on winning the heart of Lou Charpin, his belle française. Easier said than done....
Michael Sadler is a writer and academic. Born in Lewes, he now lives in Paris, where he teaches an MA course in Contemporary French Studies at the British Institute. He is married with one daughter and grows his own leeks.
- An Englishman in Paris - Michael Sadler
Michael Sadler's An Englishman in Paris is the perfect guide for the man or woman from these shores who wants to be au fait with day-to-day life in Paris. Whatever the historical enmity between our two countries (from the Battle of Waterloo onwards), there's really a marked rapprochement between the French and the English (note that the best word for our accord is a French one!); many French citizens are devoted Anglophiles (whatever they think of our food), and it's a dull Englishman whose heart doesn't beat faster pacing the boulevards of the City of Light.
Michael Sadler is a writer and academic. Born in Lewes, he now lives in Paris, where he teaches an MA course in Contemporary French Studies at the British Institute. He is married with one daughter and grows his own leeks.
- At my French Table - Jane Webster
In 2005 Jane Webster sold her house in Melbourne and took her four children out of school and moved to a rather run-down chateau in France. She had been running her business The French Table, which specialises in foodie tours around Paris, for nearly 10 years, but she was looking for a more permanent base to set up a cookery school.
Jane Webster runs the French Table tour company and cookery school.
- Au Revoir - Mary Moody
Living the good life in the Blue Mountains in Australia with her husband, four grown-up children and four (and counting) grandchildren, Mary Moody's life was full. At fifty, she had built a satisfying career as a writer and television presenter which allowed her time to look after her family, house and garden.
Mary Moody is a prolific gardening author and television presenter. Her books include A Gardener's Companion and Mary Moody's Roses. Every year Mary leads treks to the Himalayas and other parts of the world to observe native flora. She divides her time between her homes in Australia and south-west France. Her follow up, Last Tango in Toulouse, will be published under the Pier 9 imprint in September 2007. Both of these have been international bestsellers.
- Best Foot Forward - Susie Kelly
Why would an unfit, fifty-something Englishwoman embark on a solo walk across France from La Rochelle on the west coast to Lake Geneva over the Swiss border?
Susie Kelly emigrated from London to Kenya with her parents at the age of seven, and endured a convent education until she was expelled for refusing to devote her Saturday mornings to making doll’s clothes, as she preferred to go horse riding. In 1975 she returned to live in England with a husband and two small children. Since then she has acquired a second and much better husband, a fine son-in-law and four gorgeous grandchildren - Catherine, Jamie, Jasmine and Leonie. Home is an ancient farmhouse, in the process of renovation, in southwest France, shared with a menagerie of goats, horses, dogs, cats, parrots and fish. She is the author of Best Foot Forward and Two Steps Backward, and A Perfect Circle.
- Bon Chance - Richard Wiles
Deep in the Limousin countryside, Richard Wiles bought his dream home. But little did he expect to be living full time in the dilapidated farmhouse while struggling to finish the conversion during the insect plagues of summer and the harsh blizzards of winter.
Currently living in France, Richard Wiles is the author of the bestselling books Bon Courage! and Bon Chance! He was previously a journalist and is also the author of several DIY manuals.
- Bon Courage - Richard Wiles
A dilapidated, rat-infested stone barn set amidst thirteen acres of overgrown woodland and unkempt pasture might not be many people’s vision of a potential dream home. But for English couple Richard and his wife Al, the cavernous, oak-beamed building in a sleepy hamlet of the Limousin region of France is perfect.
Currently living in France, Richard Wiles is the author of the bestselling books Bon Courage! and Bon Chance! He was previously a journalist and is also the author of several DIY manuals.
- Buying a Piece of Paris - Ellie Nielsen
Buying a Piece of Paris is a charming and witty love song to the most beautiful city in the world. Paris has seduced many admirers, but for Ellie Nielsen it’s true love. So deep is her infatuation that she’ll only be satisfied with a little place to call her own.
Ellie Nielsen is the author of Buying a Piece of Paris. She has worked as an actress, publicist, curator and script assessor. After the birth of her son, she began writing, and dreaming of moving to Paris.
- C'est La Folie - Michael Wright
One day in late summer, Michael Wright gave up his comfortable South London existence and, with only his long-suffering cat for company, set out to begin a new life. His destination was ‘La Folie’, a dilapidated 15th century farmhouse in need...
- Detour de France - Michael Simkins
Though happy enough with his lot, Michael Simkins has never truly shaken the nagging doubt - helpfully upheld by his partner Julia - that he somehow lacks worldly sophistication.
Michael Simkins trained at RADA. He has appeared in more than 70 plays, stage highlights include A View from the Bridge at the National Theatre as well as musicals Chicago and Mamma Mia. He also directed Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends at the Greenwich Theatre. He has made countless TV appearances - recent credits include Foyle's War and My Family - as well as turns on the silver screen in such films as Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. He has worked with luminaries as diverse as Anthony Perkins, John Malkovich, Michael Gambon and Buster Merryfield. He lives with his actress wife Julia in London.
- Extremely Pale Rosé - Jamie Ivey
A chance conversation with a Provencal vigneron leads to the most unlikely of quests - a hunt to find France's palest rose.
Extremely Pale Rose is a richly entertaining and informative account of the travels of Jamie, his wife Tanya and their ebullient friend Peter Swift, as they take up this challenge.
Formerly a banker in London, Jamie Ivey elected to quit commuting and office life for a quest in France instead.
- French Cricket - George East
Once upon a time, former night club bouncer, seamstress and professional bedtester George East and his wife Donella fled to Normandy to escape their creditors and try to live off their wits in a foreign land.
George’s first book (‘Home & Dry in France’) told the hilarious story of the couple’s first attempts to make a new life in a rural region where time is cheap, and reluctant tractors are started on a frosty morning with a shot of moonshine apple brandy.
George East is the founder (and only) member of the George East For The Nobel Prize for Writing Committee. He spends his year living halfway up what counts as a mountain in Brittany, venturing forth to research the history, culture and (mostly) bars and restaurants of other regions of France for new books.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- French Dirt - Richard Goodman
A story about dirt--and about sun, water, work, elation, and defeat. And about the sublime pleasure of having a little piece of French land all to oneself to till. Richard Goodman saw the ad in the paper: "SOUTHERN FRANCE: Stone house in Village near Nimes/Avignon/Uzes. 4 BR, 2 baths, fireplace, books, desk, bikes. Perfect for writing, painting, exploring & experiencing la France profonde. $450 mo. plus utilities." And, with his girlfriend, he left New York City to spend a year in Southern France.
Richard Goodman has written articles for the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Commonweal, Garden Design, the Michigan Quarterly Review, Creative Nonfiction, and Salon.com. He has twice been the recipient of a MacDowell Colony Residency. He created, wrote, and narrated a six-part series about New York City for public radio in Virginia. He lives in New York City.
- French Flea Bites - George East
The character of France and the French people has been captured in words beautifully and the hilarious exploits of George his wife Donella, their neighbours and Cato the cat (remember the chap from the Pink Panther) will have you laughing nearly all the way through the book.
George East and his wife Donella are now living half-way up what passes as a mountain in the Finistere department of Brittany. Along with four chickens, two goats, Lupin the werecat and Milly the collie-cross, the couple are embedded in a hamlet with a population of just 11, which nestles at the bottom of a track leading up to hundreds of acres of moorland and granite crags.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- French Impressions - Brittany - George East
This first 'travel fusion' book of a series launches an exciting new genre in general literature. 'French Impressions - Brittany' contains everything you have ever wanted to know about that fascinating region - and more - in a book. Read a...
- French Kisses - George East
In FRENCH KISSES the Easts continue their adventures in a land where time is cheap, good friends priceless, and reluctant tractors are brought to life on a frosty morning with a shot of moonshine brandy.
During an eventful year at the Mill of the Flea, we encounter a host of new improbable characters including the moustache-growing champion of Northern France and the vegetarian couple who discover they have set up residence next to a veal farm.
George East is the founder (and only) member of the George East For The Nobel Prize for Writing Committee. He spends his year living halfway up what counts as a mountain in Brittany, venturing forth to research the history, culture and (mostly) bars and restaurants of other regions of France for new books.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- French Leave - Fidlema Cook
That fateful night, two friends were commiserating with high-flying journalist, Fidelma Cook after she d been made redundant from her job with a national Sunday newspaper.
Several bottles of red wine had also been thrown in for good measure. Then it came to her in a flash I ll just pack my bags and go live in France, she boldly announced.
At the age of 56, high-flying journalist and broadcaster Fidelma Cook was made redundant from her job with a national newspaper. Mortgaged to the hilt, massively overdrawn, maxed out on credit cards and with several loans to repay, she decided there was only one way to go... south. Packing her bags with Afghan hound Portia by her side, she headed for France, telling friends: "If I'm going to be broke, at least I'll have a tan."
- French Lessons - George East
He's back- and this time it s really serious!
Failed rock legend, pickled onion manufacturer, air hostess and euro-entrepreneur George East takes us through another eventful year of his doomed attempts to make a living out of living in rural France.
George East is the founder (and only) member of the George East For The Nobel Prize for Writing Committee. He spends his year living halfway up what counts as a mountain in Brittany, venturing forth to research the history, culture and (mostly) bars and restaurants of other regions of France for new books.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- French Letters - George East
A warm, funny and genuine insight into an English's couples experiences while renovating their property in Northern France. He gives an open, honest and heart-warming account of life in France, which includes the countryside, the eccentric and loveable locals, and the food.
He cleverly introduces us to potential pitfalls of living in a foreign land and offers lots of excellent advice, beautifully wrapped in lots of great adventures!
George East and his wife Donella are now living half-way up what passes as a mountain in the Finistere department of Brittany. Along with four chickens, two goats, Lupin the werecat and Milly the collie-cross, the couple are embedded in a hamlet with a population of just 11, which nestles at the bottom of a track leading up to hundreds of acres of moorland and granite crags.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- Home and Dry in France - George East
Anyone that has ventured into the French property market will strike immediate empathy with George East's pithy, often wry and always affectionate side swipes.
But, to assume this is a treatise for Francophiles is to miss the whole point of this book.
George East is the founder (and only) member of the George East For The Nobel Prize for Writing Committee. He spends his year living halfway up what counts as a mountain in Brittany, venturing forth to research the history, culture and (mostly) bars and restaurants of other regions of France for new books.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- Hot Sun, Cool Shadow - Angela Murrills
An unabashed celebration of the joys of food and cooking, Hot Sun, Cool Shadow follows the story of award-winning food-writer Angela Murrills and the artist Peter Matthews, who travel together to the southerly French region of Languedoc.
Co-authors Angela Murrills, an award-winning magazine food writer, and renowned artist Peter Matthews currently divide their time between Vancouver and the Languedoc.
- I'll Never Be French - Mark Greenside
Tired of Provence in books, cuisine, and tablecloths? Exhausted from your armchair travels to Paris? Despairing of ever finding a place that speaks to you beyond reason? You are ripe for a journey to Brittany, where author Mark Greenside reluctantly travels, eats of the crêpes, and finds a second life.
When Mark Greenside -- a native New Yorker living in California, doubting (not-as-trusting-as Thomas, downwardly mobile, political lefty, writer, and lifelong skeptic -- is dragged by his girlfriend to a tiny Celtic village in Brittany at the westernmost edge of France, in Finistère, "the end of the world," his life begins to change.
Mark Greenside holds B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He has been a civil rights activist, Vietnam War protestor, anti-draft counselor, Vista Volunteer, union leader, and college professor. His stories have appeared in The Sun, The Literary Review, Cimarron Review, The Nebraska Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, The New Laurel Review, Crosscurrents, Five Fingers Review, and The Long Story, as well as other journals and magazines, and he is the author of the short story collection, I Saw a Man Hit His Wife. He presently lives in Alameda, California, where he continues to teach and be politically active, and Brittany, France, where he still can’t do anything without asking for help.
- Instructions for Visitors - Helen Stevenson
Instructions for Visitors describes life and love in a village in southwestern France as seen through the eyes of British novelist Helen Stevenson. Fortunately, her eye is a discerning one as she settles into everyday living. Her writing captures the sense of bustling village culture; shopping, eating and café society are high on the agenda, as is art - not surprising in a place where the light and scenery are so beautiful that the village has, over the years, attracted Picasso and Matisse, among others.
Helen Stevenson grew up in South Yorkshire and studied modern languages at Somerville College, Oxford. She is the author of three novels, Pierrot Lunaire, Windfall and Mad Elaine, and has worked as a translator for Faber & Faber and Serpent’s Tail. Since taking up full-time writing, she regularly reviews for the Independent. She now lives in London.
- Je t'aime a la Folie - Michael Wright
If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? Having spent two years alone in France, doing his best to survive in a foreign land, and failing miserably to woo a dishy French copine, Michael Wright has everything he ever wanted: manly power tools; a cat, chickens and sheep; earthy neighbours; an aircraft and a grand piano.
Michael Wright was born in Surrey in 1966. Following an unfashionably happy education at Windlesham House and Sherborne, he graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in English Literature, and spent several years working as a theatre critic, arts columnist and literary diarist in London whilst wondering what to do when he grew up. The answer turned out to lie in rural France, where he now lives with nine very small sheep, eleven chickens, two goldfish, one vintage plane and a sarcastic cat.
- La Belle Saison - Patricia Atkinson
A beautiful book celebrating rural life in France and the simple luxuries of good food, wine and friendship, by the author of the bestselling The Ripening Sun. How often have you eaten a mushroom that you picked yourself that morning? Or sat on a boat opening and eating oysters as you lift them from the sea?
Patricia Atkinson has lived in south-western France for 15 years, having left her city job to work in the vineyards. Her first book, The Ripening Sun, describes her transition from novice amateur to expert, award-winning winemaker.
- La Vie en Rosé - Jamie Ivey
In Jamie Ivey's sequel to the delightful Extremely Pale Rose he finds out whether it is possible to run a successful rose bar in France. French friends think it's a crazy idea.
The customers will be largely men; rose is seen as a woman's drink; rose is a seasonal drink and Jamie's trade will vanish come September - and most bars make their money from food, and rose isn't supposed to accompany food.
Formerly a banker in London, Jamie Ivey elected to quit commuting and office life for a quest in France instead.
- Last Tango in Toulouse - Mary Moody
The year of her fiftieth birthday, gardening writer Mary Moody ran away from home, family and work for six months to live in a remote French village. They were six months that turned the rest of her life upside down, as she bought a house in the village, persuaded her husband to sell the family home of twenty-five years and take up goose farming, and abandoned her television career in favour of writing about her travelling experiences.
Mary Moody is a prolific gardening author and television presenter. Her books include A Gardener's Companion and Mary Moody's Roses. Every year Mary leads treks to the Himalayas and other parts of the world to observe native flora. She divides her time between her homes in Australia and south-west France. Her follow up, Last Tango in Toulouse, will be published under the Pier 9 imprint in September 2007. Both of these have been international bestsellers.
- Life in a Postcard - Rosemary Bailey
In 1988, Rosemary Bailey and her husband were travelling in the French Pyrenees when they fell in love with, and subsequently bought, a ruined medieval monastery, surrounded by peach orchards and snow-capped peaks.
Rosemary Bailey was born in Halifax, Yorkshire. She has lived in the French Pyrenees for seven years. Her previous book, the bestselling Life in a Postcard, also published by Bantam, describes her life in a mountain village and her attempts to restore a Romanesque monastery. Her account is skilfully interwoven with the poignant history of the monks and villagers who once lived there, adding a rich vein of history to a personal and contemporary tale. Bailey has been a travel writer and journalist for many years.In 1997 she wrote the acclaimed Scarlet Ribbons: A Priest with AIDS, the story of her brother, Simon Bailey, and the remarkable support he received from his Yorkshire mining village parish. Her latest book, The Man Who Married a Mountain, was published in 2006. Bailey is married to the biographer Barry Miles, and has one son, Theo, who plays his own part in this book.
- Lunch in Paris - Elizabeth Bard
In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman--and never went home again. Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce?
Elizabeth Bard is an American journalist based in Paris. She has written about art, travel and digital culture for The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Wired, Time Out and The Huffington Post. She makes a mean chocolate soufflé.
- My French Life - Vicki Archer
In 1999 Vicki Archer made a lifelong dream a reality when she moved into a seventeenth-century property in Saint-Remy-de-Provence with her husband and three children. She spent three years lovingly restoring the farmhouse, bringing back to life the abandoned apple and pear orchards and planting an olive grove of more than two thousand trees.
Vicki Archer took her overseas trip at the age of ten sparked a passion for travel and adventure that has never ceased. In the last twenty years she has travelled extensively throughout France and become enamoured with the French way of life. Since 2000 Vicki has lived between London and Provence with her husband and three children. In 2000 Carla Coulson left behind a corporate life and her own promotional business in Australia to take up her passion for photography. Her photography has since been published in Marie Claire, Gourmet Traveller, Collezione, Belle, Eve and Flair.
- Our Own Piece of Paris - Ellie Nielsen
We had two weeks. There were two of us and nine million of them. The odds were not good… An entirely delightful and compelling account of one couple’s attempt to buy their dream flat in Paris.
Ellie Nielsen studied acting before graduating to a very small role in Prisoner: Cell Block H. In the 1990s she worked at the Playbox Theatre Company as a publicist, curator and a script assessor. After the birth of her son she started writing.
- Perfume from Provence - Lady Winifred Fortescue
The original story of falling for France, Perfume from Provence was first published in 1935 and became a best-seller.
Winifred Fortescue was an actress who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jerome K. Jerome and George Bernard Shaw when she married Sir John Fortescue, the king’s librarian and archivist and famous historian of the British Army.
Born in 1888, Winifred Fortescue gave up her career on the stage after marriage and founded a successful fashion and interior design business.
She later began writing articles for The Times and Punch, and inaugurated a woman’s page for The Morning Post. She wrote seven books, of which Perfume from Provence was the first.
- Petite- Anglaise - Catherine Sanderson
Living in Paris with her partner, the workaholic Mr Frog, and their adorable toddler, Tadpole, Catherine decides to alleviate the boredom of her metro-boulot-dodo routine by starting a blog under the name of Petite Anglaise. As she lays herself bare about the confines of her stagnant relationship with Mr Frog, about Paris life and about the wonder and pain that comes with being a mother, she finds a new purpose to her day.
Catherine Sanderson has been living in Paris for more than a decade, and has been blogging under the pseudonym Petite Anglaise since July 2004. Her website is one of the most widely read and best-loved British personal blogs. She lives in the working class cultural melting pot of Belleville with her daughter.
- Reflections of Sunflowers - Ruth Silvestre
The final book in the Sunflower trilogy sees Ruth and her husband returning to Bel-Air de Grezelongue, their much-loved home in the Lot-et-Garonne region of South West France. In 1976 their dreams of purchasing a peaceful summer home came true when they spied this derelict farmhouse surrounded by fields and orchards, and saw what it could become. Renovating the primitive, rural house truly was a labour of love - and the love affair between house and owner has lasted over twenty-five years.
RUTH SILVESTRE is a singer and actress, her most famous role being Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha at the Piccadilly Theatre. She has published many articles on France, and a number of children's books. She divides her time between London and France.
- Rene and Me - George East
Told in the inimitable style which has already won the author an army of followers, Rene & Me is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving and always captivating celebration of human nature, people and, above all, life and living.
René & Me tells the story of the author and his wife's attempts to live off the land and their wits at an old mill in an isolated corner of Normandy.
George East and his wife Donella are now living half-way up what passes as a mountain in the Finistere department of Brittany. Along with four chickens, two goats, Lupin the werecat and Milly the collie-cross, the couple are embedded in a hamlet with a population of just 11, which nestles at the bottom of a track leading up to hundreds of acres of moorland and granite crags.
For a full biography, please visit George East - Author Page.
- Return to the Olive Farm - Carol Drinkwater
After sixteen months of travelling round the Mediterranean in search of the ancient secrets of the olive tree, Carol returns to her beloved olive farm in the south of France, to her husband Michel and his burgeoning family. However, the homecoming celebrations are overshadowed by disturbing discoveries.
The plight of the honey bee has become an international crisis and Carol is faced with unsettling news about the hives on her own olive farm.
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- Rosé en Marché - Jamie Ivey
ROSE EN MARCHE is the third title in the delightful 'rose' series by Jamie Ivey, and involves Tanya and Jamie selling rose in French markets.
They rent a flat in Saint Remy de Provence and work in the town's market as well as three or four other local markets.
Formerly a banker in London, Jamie Ivey elected to quit commuting and office life for a quest in France instead.
- Serge Bastarde Ate My Baguette - John Dummer
John Dummer's sharply focused descriptions of the landscape, towns and villages, and the weather of the South West of France form a animated background for a series of adventures with an array of characters from some intimidating and belligerent peasants, only softened by a mutual love of the blues harmonica, to a sad little old man whose only companionship is a collection of antique dolls.
John Dummer is probably best known for being the drummer for Darts (also writing ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love’, ‘How Many Nights’ and the truly wonderful ‘Late Last Night’.)
For a full biography, please visit John Dummer - Author Page.
- The Illustrated Olive Farm - Carol Drinkwater
In this entirely new book Carol and Michel have documented their life on the olive farm: the highs and lows of harvesting and pressing, the constant concern about water, the adoption of animals, and the anxious search for ways to diversify.
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- The Olive Farm - Carol Drinkwater
The first in Carol Drinkwater’s bestselling trilogy set on a Provençal olive farm.
"All my life, I have dreamed of acquiring a crumbling, shabby-chic house overlooking the sea.... a corner of paradise where friends can gather to swim, relax, debate, eat fresh fruits picked directly from the garden and great steaming plates of food served from an al fresco kitchen and dished up on to a candlelit table..."
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- The Olive Harvest - Carol Drinkwater
"The stars shimmer like spilled handfuls of glitter. The day is beginning to rise with a faint mist. As I turn my head, ghostly halos, auras of light, appear and disappear and I cannot tell if it is caused by my lightheadedness or is a freak of nature. The silence is truly awesome. Not a bird, not a whisper of wind, not a breath of life. Only the two of us, a most implausible pair, standing shoulder to shoulder gazing upon an awakening heaven."
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- The Olive Route - Carol Drinkwater
Like the Silk Road and the Spice Route, the Olive Route – stretching 2,200 miles from Gibraltar to northern Syria – encompasses not just a journey, but an epic adventure involving the age-old transportation of a precious commodity.
Carol Drinkwater travelled along this beautiful and sometimes dangerous route, uncovering ancient stories, meeting striking and courageous people and tracing its venerable olive culture.
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- The Olive Season - Carol Drinkwater
"I scan the terraces, planted with row upon row of ancient olive trees. It is April, late spring. Here in the hills behind the Cote d’Azur the olive groves are delicately blossomed, with their tiny, white-forked flowers. Beyond them, perched halfway up the slope of the hill, our belle epoque villa comes into view. Abounding in balustrade terraces, nestling among cedars and palms, facing out at a south-westerly angle, overlooking the bay of Cannes towards the sun-kissed Mediterranean, there it is, Appassionata, awaiting us..."
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- The Olive Tree - Carol Drinkwater
THE OLIVE TREE charts Carol Drinkwater's colourful and often dangerous journey in search of the routes that olive cultivation has taken over the centuries.
Set during a springtime Mediterranean that is evocative and perennial, it is above all a tale of our time. Troubled by challenges her own South of France farm is experiencing - attack by a virulent pest, the premature ripening of the trees' fruits - Carol realises new approaches to farming are becoming essential.
Actress Carol Drinkwater is probably best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs of life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol has been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to create peace within the region and honour the heritage of this sacred tree.
For a full biography, please visit Carol Drinkwater - Author Page.
- The Ripening Sun - Patricia Atkinson
For most people giving up the day job and moving to a beautiful area of France and living off the vines is an impossible but delicious dream. In 1990, Patricia Atkinson and her husband decided to sell up in Britain and emigrate to the Dordogne. Their idea was to buy a house with a few vines attached and employ someone to tend to the wine while they earned their living with some financial consultancy work.
Patricia Atkinson has lived in south-western France for 15 years, having left her city job to work in the vineyards. Her first book, The Ripening Sun, describes her transition from novice amateur to expert, award-winning winemaker.
- The Secret Life of France - Lucy Wadham
Lucy Wadham’s first work of non-fiction is a candid and funny account of her long and tumultuous love affair with France, her adoptive land. At the age of eighteen Wadham ran away from English boys - who she found emotionally immature and sexually unconfident - and into the arms of a Frenchman.
She soon discovered that romantic relationships in France were fraught with their own set of problems: not only do the French put women on a pedestal, but both sexes are required to act out the sort of seduction games that disappeared from English society centuries ago. Wadham, who dressed in Doc Martens and baggy jumpers, struggled to fit in.
Lucy Wadham was born in London in 1964 and educated at Oxford. She lives in France with her four children. Lost, her first novel, was published in 2000 to great acclaim.
- Toujours Provence - Peter Mayle
Poor Peter Mayle and his wife tried to live other places, but after four years away from Provence (they'd settled into a house outside East Hampton, Long Island) they realised they were hopelessly homesick. They missed the smell of thyme in the fields and the Sunday morning markets.
Peter Mayle spent 15 years in the advertising business, first as a copywriter and then as a reluctant executive, before escaping Madison Avenue in 1975 to write educational books for children. In 1990 Mayle published A Year in Provence, which became an international bestseller; his books have since been translated into more than 20 languages, Mayle has contributed to The Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Independent, GQ, and Esquire. He and his wife, Jennie, and their dogs live in the south of France.
- Tout Sweet - Karen Wheeler
Bravely leaving behind a cushy, luxurious lifestyle in London (bit of a Carry Bradshaw there maybe ! ), Karen roughs it up in a rural, peaceful village of Poitou Charentes, while renovating an old house 'Maison Coquelicot', her new home.
Hoping to find the next Great Love, Karen quickly mixes with the locals, french and british expats, all very quirky but endearing individuals.
Karen Wheeler is a former fashion editor on the Mail on Sunday and three-time winner of the prestigious Jasmine Literary Award. She writes for the Financial Times How to Spend It magazine as well as for the Daily Mail, ES magazine, You magazine and The Sunday Times Style supplement.
For a full biography, please visit Karen Wheeler - Author Page.
- Toute Allure - Karen Wheeler
There is so much to look forward to in the months ahead - to lengthening evenings, bike rides past fields of sunflowers or wild meadows of bluebells and poppies (just like the seventies Flake ad) and several months of fetes, vide greniers (car boot sales) and barbecues in friends' gardens.
And I cannot wait to get back to see if Andy Lawton has called…
Karen Wheeler is a former fashion editor on the Mail on Sunday and three-time winner of the prestigious Jasmine Literary Award. She writes for the Financial Times How to Spend It magazine as well as for the Daily Mail, ES magazine, You magazine and The Sunday Times Style supplement.
For a full biography, please visit Karen Wheeler - Author Page.
- Two Steps Backwards - Susie Kelly
Susie Kelly and her husband Terry had long dreamed of owning a home in France, but ironically it wasn't until they were facing homeless penury in England that they realized their dream. With five dogs, two parrots and their elderly horses, they moved to an old farmhouse in the Poitou-Charentes region with dirt floors, no water and a primitive electricity supply.
Susie Kelly emigrated from London to Kenya with her parents at the age of seven, and endured a convent education until she was expelled for refusing to devote her Saturday mornings to making doll’s clothes, as she preferred to go horse riding. In 1975 she returned to live in England with a husband and two small children. Since then she has acquired a second and much better husband, a fine son-in-law and four gorgeous grandchildren - Catherine, Jamie, Jasmine and Leonie. Home is an ancient farmhouse, in the process of renovation, in southwest France, shared with a menagerie of goats, horses, dogs, cats, parrots and fish. She is the author of Best Foot Forward and Two Steps Backward, and A Perfect Circle.
- White Stone, Black Wine - Amanda Lawrence
The Quercy Blanc - named for its white stone - is a wild and sparsely populated area of rural France, squeezed between the great wine trading port of Bordeaux and the fizzing city of the south, Toulouse.
Born in the sedate southern counties, Amanda Lawrence was blessed with pioneering parents who regularly bumped her down the primitive roads of continental Europe. The Quercy was always a favourite halt, slowly working its charm on her until she finally succumbed. It's now where she lives and works, overlooking the famous Cahors vineyards.
All the best
