This book was part of my Non-Fiction November reading list and is a memoir set in the 1930’s which is light and humorous. The narrator is Lady Fortescue, the daughter of an English Vicar, and who is a former stage actress. She is married to an older man and historian, John Fortescue, and they embark on an adventure to the South of France, to the mountains of Provence, for a cheaper lifestyle. They find a traditional French house with an attached garden and gardener, full of fruit trees, a vineyard, and many flowers, shrubs and hedges.
Throughout the book she acquaints us with their everyday lives and those of the locals. She paints the builders who add an addition to the house in childlike terms but is in general affectionate about the people of Provence. Each chapter concerns a different topic and she goes back in time to when they first arrived and then to later incidents. After the building chapter she talks about her garden and their interactions with their gardener Hilaire who is devoted to his plants and flowers. Marriage in Provence is tackled, as well as the conduction business/Officialdom and getting around bureaucracy (some hilarious scenes), housekeeping (servants), driving their car, Feast (Saint) Days and the harvests.
I loved it all but raised my eyebrows when the servants were inefficient. The narrator writes in a wonderfully humorous and indulgent way which kept me interested the whole way through. There are also some lovely black and white drawings throughout by E. H. Shepard, the illustrator of Winnie the Pooh. She has written some other memoirs:
- There’s Rosemary, There’s Rue – An autobiography about her earlier days.
- Sunset House (In Provence).
- Trampled Lilies (In Provence).
Readable 
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