Another Fine French Book Giveaway!

Patricia Sands is one of the most peripatetic and prolific people I know. She seems to flit effortlessly between her homes in Toronto (main home) and Florida (vacation home) and then, once or twice a year, she pops up (for at least two months and often through home exchange) in the South of France, where she leads super-popular women's tours in Provence and on the Côte d'Azur.  She also loves to attend book signings, readings, authors conferences and other literary events in the US, Canada and beyond.

Plus, she's the happy matriarch of a large, Toronto-area blended family that includes seven adult 'kids’ and their partners and seven grandchildren (known as the Adorables).

And somehow, Patricia is also able to write books...lots of books...popular books!  Her award-winning debut novel, The Bridge Club, came out in 2010. Her second novel, The Promise of Provence, was followed by two more novels set in Provence...forming the bestselling Love in Provence trilogy. Her fifth novel, Drawing Lessons, is out this month. 

But wait, there's more!  In addition to writing for various Francophile websites, Patricia publishes a blog, a monthly email newsletter and a large number of social media posts--with beautiful photos--promoting things she and her friends feel passionate about. Her generosity with her online time is one of the many, many things I admire about her. She's constantly helping her followers and friends (both real and virtual) promote their own projects, their events, their blogs, websites, books and more. Those of us lucky enough to have found ourselves in her orbit can put up a post and be relatively certain she'll like it, comment on it, share it and/or re-tweet it, often at lightning speed. 

So now you know why there's no way I wasn't going to jump in and help spread the word about Patricia's newest book! Plus, the novel is set in Arles and the Camargue, two of my favorite places in Provence.  Plus, Patricia has generously offered a few copies for me to give away to my readers. Plus, this lady loves France as much as anyone I know!

Drawing Lessons is a portrait of a woman named Arianna who's forced to create a new life at age 62. She arrives in the South of France for a two-week artists’ workshop "full of anticipation but burdened by guilt" because back home in Toronto, she's been living with the devastating diagnosis of her husband’s dementia and the heartbreaking decision she’s had to make. Encouraged by family to take time for herself, she travels to Arles to paint in the same fields of poppies and sunflowers that inspired Van Gogh. Gradually, she draws strength from the warm companionship and gentle wisdom of her fellow artists...and gives herself permission to embrace the life in front of her.

Sound good? Then on to the giveaway! Patricia is offering us two signed print copies (one for readers in North America and one for readers in Europe) and  two ebooks (to readers living anywhere).  To enter, simply leave a comment under "comments" below. Please be sure to leave your email address or we won't be able to reach you if you win; signing in with your Google or Blogger account is not enough. When it says "reply as"...a good choice is "open ID" (use your name) or ID/URL (use your name and your website). If you can't comment for whatever reason, just email me at provenceblog@aol.com and I'll see that you're entered anyway.

If you'd like to go ahead and order the book, you'll find it in all the usual places...and on Amazon here. You may also order it from any book store.

Meanwhile, you can learn all about Patricia's background, books, trips and other activities on her website here.   

Bonne Chance!

Win This Lovely French Country Diary

Linda Dannenberg, who created and publishes the immensely popular French Country Diary, has just written that she'd love, once again, to offer some copies to my readers as a end-of-the-year giveaway. Last year, the French Country Diary giveaway on Provence Post got such a big response, Linda went a little nuts and actually sent out quite a few more gift copies than she had committed to. ''Couldn't help myself,'' she explains. ''And why not? I loved the comments. It was such fun.''

This year's edition of the hardcover book--the 25th annual!--is 128 pages.  It's slip-cased in a a pretty, deep-rose Provencal toile fabric from Olivades called “Les Quatre Saisons.” Vintage typography and gorgeous photos by Guillaume de Laubier enhance the design and layout, with each week-at-a-glance spread offering an intimate vignette of the French countryside: gardens, private homes, villages and landscapes. As the year goes on you'll visit a luminous stone farmhouse surrounded by lavender fields near Saint-Rémy; take a sunlit drive through the hidden coves and harbors of the Côtes d’Armor, Brittany’s rocky northern coast; enjoy a snowy winter’s day in Paris; and spend an afternoon discovering the Potager du Roi, Louis XIV’s extraordinary vegetable garden at the Palace of Versailles. Also included are lush four-color endpapers, generous space for jotting daily notes, a stitched-in ribbon to mark each week and decorative address pages. More than a few people have told me they save their Diaries year after year, that they make lovely keepsakes.

This year, Linda would like to give away five signed copies.  To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below, by clicking COMMENTS.  Linda suggests you tell us:  ''What is your favorite book set in France...fiction or non fiction...and what makes it so special?'' You don't have to answer that question but please keep in mind that the more creative your comment, the better! And please be very sure to leave your email address or we won't be able to reach you if you win.

Meanwhile, if you'd like to go ahead and order the French Country Diary 2013 on Amazon, you can do that here. Or you can order it from Linda's website, which is here.  (On Linda's website you can also get all the info about her other books, an impressive list that includes Pierre Deux's French Country, New French Country, French Country Kitchens, Paris Bistro Cooking, Perfect Vinaigrettes and Ducasse: Flavors of France.)

So bonne chance...I hope you win...and of course, I wish you all the happiest, healthiest, most-heavenly New Year....

Like this story? Subscribe to Provence Post here. 

Another Fine French Book Giveaway

We all know there’s something magical about Provence, something that touches people deeply…something that inspires artists and authors and chefs and all sorts of other creative types….that draws people back again and again from all over the world. And Deborah Lawrenson is clearly one of them.

A British novelist and journalist, Deborah has loved Provence since she first visited “more years ago than I care to remember.” Finally, she and her husband bought their crumbling house in the hills above Apt just under five years ago and set out, like so many others before them, to transform it into the vacation home of their dreams. And it’s this home that inspired—and provides the setting for—Deborah’s newest novel, The Lantern. The book was published in the UK by Orion  in June and in the U.S., by HarperCollins last month. This is Deborah’s sixth book.

Deborah calls the Lantern a modern gothic novel. She initially intended it as an homage to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, with its young heroine who finds her man more and more mysterious the longer she’s with him.

But along the way, Deborah says, “it became a novel about perfume and blindness and the past life of houses, and also about books, reading and the imagination. The beauty of the Luberon region that provides the backdrop was just there to be captured in words.”

So here’s the plot. When Eve falls for the charming, secretive man named Dom, their whirlwind romance leads them to Les Genevriers, an abandoned and run-down house in the South of France. But as summer fades to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries the house seems to be hiding—not the least of which is the strange disappearance of Dom’s beautiful first wife. And what is the connection to a young girl who lived in the house decades before? As Les Genevrier’s tangled history begins to unravel, and Dom grows increasingly distant, Eve must discover the secrets of the past before history has a chance to repeat itself.

Reviews for the book have been strong.  The Washington Post said it offers “a vivid escape to an intriguing place, with location playing as much a role as those who dwell there.”

The Chicago Tribune says “Lawrenson effortlessly evokes the sights, sounds, and scents of Provence while at the same time delivering a spellbinding tale of danger, deception, and desire.”

USA Today gave it three stars out of four, saying “The scent of lavender seems to waft from the pages of The Lantern, a hypnotic tale of suspicion set in the south of France…Comparing any novel to du Maurier's dark, obsessive stories is never done flippantly. The Lantern lives up to the hype.”

Today, Deborah splits her time between rural Kent and the house in France. “"What I love most about Provence is the sense of history,” she tells me. “The sense that its streets and stones have been inhabited for thousands of years. The atmosphere of light and sensuous richness is captivating, but is as mysterious as it is romantic. As we've come to know our French friends and neighbours, it has become clearer that they sense it too. When, rather tentatively, I told one good friend that the Provence I had written about in The Lantern was not all the surface brightness that the tourists see, that I had written the darker stories of the landscape into my book, he was actually delighted. ‘Now I know that you really understand us,’ he said.

“Perhaps it has something to do with the way the seasons are clearly defined, with cold, harsh winters and exuberant springs,” she continues. “In the summer we are all at play, and in the depths of winter, even the most down-to-earth farmer becomes a philosopher."

Want to know more about the book and the author? Then check out Deborah’s blog, where you'll find an archive of relevant background and photographs to illustrate the story. You might also enjoy her website,  where you’ll find video clips (the book was featured on Channel 4’s TV Book Club in the U.K.), her biography and more. If you’d like to read a sample chapter from The Lantern, click here. 

Ok, on to the giveaway! HarperCollins is offering three copies of The Lantern to U.S. readers of Provence Post. And Deborah is offering three signed copies, for Provence Post readers living in the U.K. or the rest of Europe.

To enter, simply leave a comment under “comments” below. Please don’t forget to leave us your email and to tell us in which country you live. If you don't tell us your email, we can't reach you and you can't win! Signing in with your web or Google address is not enough, unfortunately. And if you want to buy the book on Amazon, you can do that here (from the U.S.) or here (from the U.K.). Here's the Kindle version U.S. and the Kindle version U.K.

Giveaway: Another Fine Book About France!

Emma Bovary—one of literature's greatest dreamers and worst mothers—has been discussed and debated for centuries. But overlooked and often forgotten is her unloved, neglected and orphaned daughter. Now, in an epic tale of pluck and perseverance, a new novel released this week picks up at the end of Flaubert’s classic and asks, What happened to Emma Bovary's only daughter?

One year after her mother’s suicide and one day after her father dies of a broken heart, 12-year-old Berthe Bovary is sent to live on her grandmother’s impoverished farm. But fate--and determination--take her from the French countryside to the dangerous cotton mills of Lille to the glitz and glamour of Paris. There, as an apprentice to a renowned fashion designer, Berthe is ushered into the high society of which she once only dreamed. And yet she still yearns for the one thing her mother never had: the love of someone she loves in return.

I haven’t read the book yet. But here’s what the publisher tells me: “A beguiling coming-of-age story and fascinating portrait of France in the mid-1800s, the book re-imagines Flaubert’s fictional creations through Berthe’s eyes and offers a new way of thinking about one of the greatest heroines of all time.”

Booklist calls it “a lavishly textured sequel to a timeless literary Masterpiece.”  Publisher’s Weekly says it’s “an entertaining romance for readers of historical fiction.”

Madame Bovary’s Daughter is Linda Urbach’s third book and it took her five years to write. Here's the back story, in her words:

“After graduating from college I knew I wanted to be a writer. (What else would I do with a degree in English Lit?) I thought the best place to do this was Paris. And the best way to do it was to find a garret and live the life of a starving artiste. I found a garret, or rather a furnished room without a bathroom on the Left Bank, and proceeded to starve which seemed to take up all my writing time. What little time I had left over I spent trying to earn a few francs. I got a job teaching English-- I could barely speak French-- at Berlitz for five francs an hour. I lived this way for a year.

“Even though on the surface it seemed like a wonderful adventure for a 22 year old, it was pretty depressing.  No one would talk to me so I did what I’ve always loved to do: I read.  This was when I read Madame Bovary for the first time. And I remember thinking ‘poor Emma, poor Madame Bovary!’  She was trapped in a loveless marriage, in love with another man (make that two men), her husband was a bore, she craved another life, one which she could never afford and finally, tragically she committed suicide. It took her almost a week of agony to finally die from the poison she ingested.

“But 25 years later and as the adoptive mother of a very-cherished daughter, I re-read Madame Bovary. And now I had a different take away: What was this woman thinking?  What kind of woman would continually cheat on her husband, ignore her only daughter, spend all her family’s money on a lavish wardrobe for herself and gifts for her man of the moment? What kind of mother was she? She barely acknowledged her child’s existence.  How did Berthe manage to survive? Which is why is why I wrote this book. I wanted to make damn sure she not only survived but triumphed. I guess you could say I adopted Berthe Bovary as a sort of second child.”

Today Urbach lives in Connecticut, where she’s at work on her fourth book. When asked what she thinks Flaubert would say about her sequel, here’s what she had to say: “He was a craftsman. Every word was edged in gold. His Madame Bovary is often considered one of the two greatest novels ever written, second only to Anna Karenina. As a writer, I’m humbled by Flaubert’s genius. Honestly, I think he would hate it!”

To order Madame Bovary’s Daughter on Amazon, click here. For more info, including photos, events and reading group guides, click here. 

But wait! The lovely folks at Ballantine Bantam Dell (an imprint of Random House) are offering three copies to the readers of Provence Post. Simply leave a comment at the end of this post and we'll pick the winners next week. Do be sure to include an email address so we can reach you; signing in with your website or blog address is not enough. Bonne Chance! 

Where to Propose in Provence?

I received this charming email the other day.  Anyone have any ideas to share?

Dear Julie,

I found your blog while researching food and restaurants in Provence. I'm in need of some serious recommendations.  I will be proposing to my girlfriend during our trip to France this summer.  We'll be spending our time all over Provence (Marseilles, Cannes, St. Tropez, The Luberon, etc.) and also on Corsica.  I'd love to propose to her in either Provence or Corsica, but I want it to be unique and one-of-a-kind.  I want to find that perfect place that just "sets the stage" for the most romantic proposal.   I want her engagement to be so memorable that no other will ever compare. Do you have any recommendations on where to propose in either Provence or Corsica?  The perfect restaurant, or natural setting, or experience?  I have a solid budget, but I'm am more concerned about the uniqueness of the setting. 

Some current ideas are the cactus garden in Eze, a hot air balloon ride in the Luberon or in Bonifacio, Corsica.  I'm leaning towards a place on the coast because she loves the ocean, but it's much more about the uniqueness of the experience/location.  I'm really trying to find a place that I could not find on my own with just internet research.  I hate the term "off-the-beaten-track" but I guess that's the best description...although I'm open to a more "touristy" location if there is a special experience I can arrange there.  Thank you in advance for any advice you can provide!

**Note from Julie: If you've never left a comment on my blog, this is a great time to do it! Let's help this adorably romantic man find the perfect place to propose. Leaving a comment is super easy. Click comments below.  Write your comment in the box.  Choose an identity. If you don't know which option to choose, tick "Name/URL." Then type in your name. Full name, first name, fake name: whatever. If you want your name linked to a website, type in the website or URL when prompted. Click "Publish your Comment." Et voila!