Content in Provence
Author who inspired romantic dreams of living in the south of France remained happily distracted by its charms to the end.
PETER Mayle, who wrote the bestselling novel A Year In Provence, died recently at the age of 78, his publishers announced.
Following a short illness, the British author died on Jan 18 in a hospital near his beloved home in southern France, publishing house Alfred A. Knopf revealed.
A Year In Provence, his memoir about his first 12 months after relocating to the south of France, was released in 1990 with an initial print run of 3,000.
The witty tale of moving into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the lavender-scented, remote countryside, and adapting to the slower Provencal way of life, went on to sell six million copies in 40 languages.
Mayle had moved to the village of Menerbes in Provence with his wife Jennie with the intention of writing a novel. However, he was distracted by all the problems of renovating the 18th century stone farmhouse they had bought, and his agent eventually told him to “shelve the novel and write about the distractions” (New York Times).
The book’s infectious warmth for the south of France and the local lifestyle and culture fired up the imaginations of thousands of Britons and others to seek the same romantic dream.
Mayle wrote several follow-on books, including Toujours Provence (1991) and Encore Provence (1992).
Film director Ridley Scott, his friend and neighbour, directed the 2006 film A Good Year, starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard, which was based on Mayle’s novel of the same name.
“It was all that humorous competitive spirit between the French and the English that Peter captured brilliantly,” Scott told BBC radio.
“It was quite true about the French – and it was quite true about the British.”
He was made a knight in France’s Legion d’Honneur in 2002 for his services to French culture.
Scott said: “Peter was a very kind and successful man, and it was driven by his own spirit. You could feel whatever he did, whatever he touched was going to work.”
Mayle started out writing a series of educational works for children, such as sex education books, including the popular Where Did I Come From? First published in 1973, the book describes the reproductive process in simple language along with cartoon illustrations, and remains in print till today. It was available in
Malaysia until 2012 when, responding to a complaint from the Umno Youth Community Complaints Bureau, the Home Ministry banned sales of the book on the grounds that it contains “elements that could be detrimental to the society’s morals and public interest”.
The novelist, who for millions of Britons epitomised the “European dream” of living in the sun, said in a 2016 interview that Britain’s exit from the European Union was a “disaster for them and for Europe”.
“I am sad for the future of my English friends,” said Mayle, who took French nationality ahead of Britain’s EU membership referendum on June 23, 2016.
In September 2016, he reflected on his website of ways in which both he, and Provence, had changed or stayed the same, roughly 25 years since his landmark novel came out.
“I am still easily lured from my desk by interesting distractions,” he wrote.
“A wine tasting, a promising young chef, the rumour of truffles to be found under a nearby oak, a murky hammam in Marseille, a vicious game of petanque in the village and, of course, the spectacle of daily life as seen from the cafe terrace.
“I don’t want to go anywhere else. I’m happy where I am. That, I suppose, is contentment, and I shall always be grateful to the literary accident known as A Year In Provence for helping me to achieve it.”