Having delighted millions of Americans with A Year in Provence and
Toujours Provence, Peter Mayle treats us to a wonderfully entertaining
novel of escape, romance, and adventure, played out in the landscape he
has made so irresistible. Simon Shaw, a forty-two-year-old advertising
tycoon, worn down by insatiable clients and a rapacious ex-wife, wants
to get away from it all. On impulse he drives off in his Congo-black
Porsche convertible to take a break in the South of France. When an
accident strands him in a small village in the Luberon, an enchanting
French woman, who is between husbands, comes to his rescue and soon
lures him into buying the local gendarmerie with its splendid view.
Together with the indispensable aid of Ernest, Simon's majordomo -
valet, chauffeur, confidant, master of detail, and inspired flower
arranger - they transform the rubble into a little jewel of a hotel. And
life seems idyllic. But at the same time, something pas tres catholique
is afoot: a petty crook, recently released from the Marseilles prison,
and some of his pals are plotting an assault on the bank - more
picturesque than secure - in the nearby town. Paths cross; schemes go
awry; an heir to millions disappears. And through it all Peter Mayle
delights us with the intrigues of the haute monde that descends on the
Hotel Pastis and the machinations of the bad guys in the environs, as
everything conspires to threaten the heaven on earth that Simon Shaw has
envisioned.
