"As beguiling and delectable as France itself."*Mimi Sheraton"Ann Barry tells her tale directly and clearly, without cloying artifice or guile, so that it has the warmth, honesty, and force of a long letter from an old friend. She makes her reader a welcome house guest in her much-loved little cottage in the heart of France."*Susan Allen TothAnn Barry was a single woman, working and living in New York, when she fell in love with a charming house in Carennac ...

A little over ten years ago, Janine Marsh and her husband Mark gave up their city jobs in London to chase the good life in the countryside of northern France. Having overcome the obstacles of starting to renovate her dream home – an ancient, dilapidated barn – and fitting in with the peculiarities of her new neighbours, Janine is now the go-to expat in the area for those seeking to get to grips with a very different way of life.In the Seven Valleys, each season brings new challenge...

One year and one arduous home-renovation into their marriage, Ken and Bing head to the French countryside to celebrate their long-delayed honeymoon, swearing they're getting out of the home-fixing business for good. When they fall in love with the village of La Montagne Noire, they find themselves buying a fixer-upper and starting all over again-but this time, in French!McAdams recounts their mishaps and misadventures with humor, capturing the essence of French village life, the awk...

Italian Lessons is the true story of Joan and Roger’s move to Italy. Selling everything and leaving behind the familiar, the former public relations executive (Joan) and retired airline captain (Roger) purchased and renovated Le Vigne, a centuries-old farmhouse in the heart of Italy. Through effort, grit, money, heavy doses of humor and strong servings of Italian pazienza, the couple navigated the difficult waters of being ex-pats, learned a new language, converted their home into a vacati...

When dream meets reality. . . Endless fields of flame-like poppies. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The sweet, rhythmic chime of church bells. Months upon months of unemployment? Struggling to communicate with locals? Duvets frozen on the clothesline? Jennifer Criswell's move from New York City to Tuscany was not supposed to go like this. She had envisioned lazy mornings sipping espresso while penning a best-selling novel and jovial group dinners, just like in the...

How often have you eaten a mushroom that you picked yourself that morning? Or sat on a boat opening and eating oysters as you lift them from the sea? Or partaken of a seven course feast of game to celebrate the success of the chasse?When Patricia Atkinson - bestselling author of The Ripening Sun - first moved to France, her intention was simply to establish a vineyard. Over the years, however, she found herself becoming integrated into a way of life that, had she ...

'A splendid romp. Vive la France!'Peter Mayle, author of 'A Year in Provence' and many other bestsellers'Mike Buchanan is the best kind of opinionated, middle-aged, middle-class Englishman abroad: the funny kind.'Andy Heslop'If you have a sense of humour, this book will put a big smile on your face. I laughed out loud many times. A refreshing absence of political correctness.'The lovely Maureen PadleyPolitical correctness is a curse of the modern era. This book is not politically correct. ...

The bestselling author of Lunch in Paris takes us on another delicious journey, this time to the heart of Provence.Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way and the world's flakiest croissant around the corner, Elizabeth is sure she's found her "forever place." But life has other plans.On a last romantic jaunt before the baby arrives, the cou...

The brilliantly entertaining true story of how one couple set out with a dream of moving to France - and got far more than they ever bargained for.HOME & DRY IN NORMANDY is the first of two books following the adventures of George and Donella East as they try to realise their dream of living the good life in rural France. After months of property-hunting, the couple arrive at The Mill of the Flea, a dilapidated and long-abandoned eighteenth-century water mill set i...

In this collection of articles, the author paints vignettes and describes happenings from the vantage point of an American observer in what he has dubbed the Golden Triangle in France. The focus is on a fascinating group of persons and personal experiences in a corner of the beautiful Dordogne valley in the northern edge of the Lot that is still relatively unspoiled, and filled with an astounding number of significant places. The entire region throbs with the material reminders of prehisto...

French Impressions: The Loire Valley "The title is very apt. Compared with other travel books, reading George's work is like coming across the brightness and brio of an Impressionist painting in a museum full of sombre art..." West Town News   Product Description French Impressions: The Loire Valley is the latest in a series of distinctive travel books by George East. George is the a...

An alluring, evocative summer voyage on the Mediterranean and into the enchanting seaside towns of France and Italy by a young American chef aboard an Italian billionaire couple’s spectacular sailing yacht.Having begun his cooking career in some of New York’s and San Francisco’s best restaurants, David Shalleck undertakes a European culinary adventure, a quest to discover what it really means to be a chef through a series of demanding internships in Provence and th...