Book Recommendation: A Year in Provence

“It was an afternoon for a pool and a hammock and an undemanding book…”

This quote, one of my favorites from A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, has been my approach to reading this summer.

I carried this book around with me on several travel weekends, reading it on the beach, at the lake, by the pool, and pretty much anywhere I felt like escaping to the French countryside.

British writer Peter Mayle and his wife fulfilled a lifelong dream when they purchased an old home on a vineyard in Provence and moved there full-time.

The memoir takes you through the adventures of their first year there with a chapter dedicated to each month. Mayle’s stories of seemingly endless home projects, charming dinners in small family restaurants, amusing run-ins with locals and tourists alike, and more filled me with appreciation for the beauty of everyday life in this charming region.

I didn’t travel to Europe this summer, but by reading this book I felt, in a small way, like I still had an adventure there!

If you like memoirs, France, or simply books that feel like a delightful excursion someplace new, then you should read A Year in Provence!