In 1996, when we arrived in Provence, the Mayles were still in the Hamptons. They stayed for about four years before returning to Provence and, in fact, to Lourmarin where they lived until very recently when they relocated a few kilometers to the neighboring village of Vaugines. The book was published in 1989 and by 1993 (or so), the Mayles had moved from Ménerbes to Amagansett in the Hamptons. I had (finally) read the book and we were about to explore the landscape he described so vividly in that book, by then already translated into at least a couple dozen languages and by then so wildly popular that Mayle and wife Jennie had fled to Long Island, New York to escape the hordes of tourists trying to catch of glimpse of him or to at least get a feeling for the lifestyle he had so brilliantly recounted (e.g., by swimming in his pool). Peter Mayle, the British-born advertising executive and author of children’s books turned internationally-renowned author of books set in Provence, entitled the book that propelled him to fame, “A Year in Provence,” but as others have pointed out, a more apt title would have been “A Year in the Luberon.” We rented a car and drove to Aix-en-Provence, where we would spend several nights before moving to Lourmarin, the small village at the base of the Luberon Mountains.
If I recall correctly, the Aix-en-Provence TGV station had not yet been built. Twenty years ago, my husband, daughter, and I rolled into Marseille on the high-speed train from Paris.
0 kommentar(er)
