Provence Books and Movies - UK

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Peter Mayle If you don't know Peter Mayle's books, you should read at least the first one, A Year in Provence. It was written when Mayle lived just outside Menerbes and is a warm and charming account of an English couple's first year living there and renovating their farmhouse. It also serves as a good guide to the Luberon's attractions, markets and restaurants. There are two sequels, Toujours Provence and Encore Provence.

A Year in Provence

Toujours Provence

Encore Provence

If you know A Year in Provence and its sequels, you may want to see the TV series made by the BBC in the early 1990s, starring John Thaw as Peter Mayle, and available on DVD.

A Year in Provence (DVD)

 

A Good Year (the book)

The one Peter Mayle book to make it to Hollywood is his novel A Good Year, which was made into a film by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe as a city trader who inherits a winery in the Luberon - actually Chateau la Canorgue in Bonnieux. If you have been to the Luberon you will recognise many of the villages and locations where it was filmed, and if you have not been yet, it will make you want to come.

A Good Year (the movie)

 

Other books penned by Peter Mayle and set in Provence or France...
 

Bon Appetit Bon Appetit!: Travels Through France with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew, the title says it all - a celebration of French gastronomy.

Confessions of a French Baker This book about bread-making is co-written with Gerard Auzet, who had a great bakery in Cavaillon.

Provence A-Z An anecdotal encyclopaedia with life in Provence as its theme, written with his customary humour, charm and whimsy..

Recommended Provence guide books

I particularly like the Eyewitness Guides for their rich pictorial content. With excellent photography, 3-D mapping, and cutaway illustrations, they show you what the other guides can only tell you about.

Eyewitness Provence

Three reliable guidebooks are Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and my favourite, the Cadogan Guide, which tends to be more thoughtful and analytical than the others.

Lonely Planet

Cadogan Guide

Rough Guide

 

Walking in Provence Good guidebook for hiking in Provence. There are 42 walks of short and medium length with descriptions of the routes and maps to accompany them.

Drive Around Provence Driving guide to Provence with recommended routes.

Secret Provence Not the one to take if you only have one guidebook on Provence, but good for some surprising and little-known suggestions.

Balades nature du Luberon French language guide. 15 hikes in the Luberon along with a nature-spotting guide.

Luberon...a pied French language guide. 24 walks around the Luberon.

Provence Cookery Books

Cooking in Provence Alex Mackay shares his passion for the relaxed, rural lifestyle and simple cooking of Provence.

Flavours of Provence Authentic Provencal recipes, and superbly photographed.

Provence Cookbook Patricia Wells shares her favourite recipes as well guides to markets, suppliers and vineyards in Provence.

Provence Cookery School Step-by-step advice on how to learn the key elements of Provencal cooking in only one week.

Chef in Provence Recipes from local chef Edouard Loubet who runs the excellent Bastide de Capelongue in Bonnieux.

  The art of Provence 

Provence 500 Photos Glowing pictures in a stunning tour of Provence's greatest sights.

Provence Sketchbook Provence through the eye of the watercolourist, exploring the landscapes and architecture of the region.

Luberon Carnet French language. Some of the Luberon's most beautiful landscapes by the illustrator Denis Clavreul.

Postcards from Provence Julian Merrow-Smith is a Luberon local who does a painting a day, this beautiful book takes you through the seasons in Provence.

Coffee-table books  

Most Beautiful Villages of Provence

A photographic celebration of the most beautiful villages of Provence, from the mountains of Luberon to the village perchees of the Alpes-Maritimes - their architecture, landscape and people.

Living in Provence

A book of sumptuous photos giving a glimpse into some of the best private homes and gardens in Provence, ranging from contemporary villas to village farmhouses, from log cabins to historical homes. Celebrates Provence as a way of life more than just a place.

Provence high-brow selection  

Provence Ford Madox Ford spent his last years near Toulon. In "Provence" (1935), he explores both the place and the idea of it: 'not a country nor the home of a race, but a frame of mind'.

Caesar's Vast Ghost The author Lawrence Durrell lived in Provence for 30 years, his last book is a homage to the land he loved: part travelogue, part writer's notebook, part autobiography.

Luminous Debris An exploration of the landscapes of Provence and the Languedoc, focusing on a particular place or artifact and musing on the meaning of things. Not for the faint-hearted.

The Fly-Truffler Most unusual story of a truffle-loving linguist's romance with the spirit of his dead wife. Lyrical, poetic, and evocative of the Luberon landscapes it is set in. The author lived here for many years.

Seeking Provence Unearthing a Provence beyond the idea of a holiday home for the summer, this book explores the cultural idiosyncrasies and deeply anchored heritage of this Mediterranean land. It reflects on a way of life that is still worth living today.

Old Provence First published in 1905, Old Provence provides a remarkable insight not only into the area's history and architecture, but also its literary and cultural significance, from the ancients to the turbulent middle ages.

Provence: A Cultural History Through its architecture, literature, and popular culture, this book analyzes and celebrates the identity of a region famous for its pastis and pétanque.

Two Towns in Provence Two Towns in Provence brings together M.F.K. Fisher's unforgettable portraits of Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, which she describes as "my picture, my map, of a place and therefore of myself."

  Books by people who moved to Provence (and are not Peter Mayle) 

Perfume from Provence Charming account of an English couple's life in a Provence village, filled with sights and scents, builders, village fetes, quirky locals - like Peter Mayle but from the 1930s.

Village in the Vaucluse In the 1950s the author lived for a year in the then-isolated village of Roussillon in the Luberon. It's a sociological study of life in provincial France but full of interesting anecdotes.

A Farmhouse in Provence What happens when a Vogue travel editor marries a Frenchman and buys a ruined farmhouse and vineyard near Avignon? Pretty much this...

Luberon Garden A British landscape gardener recounts anecdotes of life in the Luberon through the prism of garden projects and clients, as well as the landscaping of his own garden near Lacoste.

Have you thought about a Kindle?
Rather than weigh your luggage down with books for your holiday, you could get a Kindle, an electronic book reader that can wirelessly download and store up to 3,500 books, as well as your usual newspapers or magazines. There are over 550,000 titles to choose from on Amazon.

I was very impressed by the screen on the new Kindle, it is as easy to read as a book. The Kindle comes in two flavours, one with 3G and one without.

 

What the reviews say about the Kindle:

"They've cracked it — this is the future." - London Evening Standard

"Its e-ink display is a thing of great beauty." - The Independent

"Kindle's winning combination of noteworthy upgrades—an improved screen, better battery life, lighter weight, and lower price—vaults it to the top of the e-book reader category." - CNet

"Speaking as a consumer, I’ll be buying a Kindle." - Matt Warman, Telegraph.co.uk


Movies based on the books of Marcel Pagnol  

Jean de Florette & Manon of the Spring

Superb films on every level: acting (the cream of French actors), storyline, cinematography (Provence at its best), even the music is outstanding. They are really two halves of one film - here they are together on DVD. (Manon des Sources is also known as Manon of the Springs).

La Gloire de mon Pere (My Father's Glory)

Two magical, moving films based on the memoirs of the legendary Provencal writer and director Marcel Pagnol. Heavily imbued with the atmosphere of summers in Provence and the wonder of growing up.

Le Chateau de ma Mere (My Mother's Castle)

  Movies shot in the Luberon region of Provence  

The Horseman on the Roof A historical epic with heaving bosoms, thundering horses, spicy swordfights, and glorious cinematography, including the rooftops of Curcuron.

Swimming Pool Charlotte Rampling in a sometimes bizarre tale of a writer coming to a house in the Luberon to write. The house has a big swimming pool, hence the title. Everything is not as it seems...

Mr Bean's Holiday Yes, if you look carefully you can glimpse various Luberon locations like Oppede le vieux and Cavaillon, as well as Cannes and Paris.

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