''A Year in Provence'' is a 1989 best-selling memoir by
Peter Mayle
Peter Mayle ( "mail"; 14 June 1939 – 18 January 2018) was a British businessman turned author who moved to France in the 1980s. He wrote a series of bestselling memoirs of his life there, beginning with '' A Year in Provence'' (1989).
Early l ...
about his first year in
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
, and the local events and customs. It was adapted into a television series starring
John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who appeared in a range of television, stage, and cinema roles. He starred in the television series '' Inspector Morse'' as title character Detective Chief Inspector ...
and
Lindsay Duncan
Lindsay Vere Duncan (born 7 November 1950) is a Scottish actress. On stage, she has won two Olivier Awards (for ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' and ''Private Lives'') and a Tony Award (for ''Private Lives''). She has starred in several plays by Ha ...
. Reviewers praised the book's honest style, wit and its refreshing humour.
Plot
Peter Mayle and his wife move to Provence, and are soon met with unexpectedly fierce weather, underground
truffle
A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Pe ...
dealers and unruly workers, who work around their ''normalement'' schedule. Meals in Provençal restaurants and work on the Mayles' house, garden and vineyard are features of the book, whose chapters follow the months of the year.
Adaptations
In 1991 a radio adaptation was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...
.
In 1993, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Unlike the book, the programme was not well received by critics and it was later placed at number ten on a ''
, describing it as a "smugathon ... which achieved the near impossible – creating a John Thaw vehicle nobody liked".
*''Toujours Provence'' (1991)
*''Encore Provence'' (1999)
*''French Lessons'' (2001)
'' by Christopher Marsh in which an Andalusian man persuades his wife and his three daughters to relocate to Belfast.