Early days -- Home sweet home -- Getting closer -- Second impressions -- La politesse française -- Learning French, inch by inch -- Dinner at the Élysée Palace -- Nostalgia is not always what it used to be -- The weather is here, wish you were beautiful -- A midsummer night's treat -- Lunch break -- Read all about it -- A good place to be ill -- The pulse of the village -- Snapshots -- The weather forecast: more to come -- Blind luck -- Summer invasion, autumn exodus -- Hollywood comes to Provence -- Signs of summer -- A gift from Napoleon -- Then and now.

"The beloved author Peter Mayle, champion of all things Provence, here in a final volume of all new writing, offers vivid recollections from his twenty-five years in the South of France-- lessons learned, culinary delights enjoyed, and changes observed. Twenty-five years ago, Peter Mayle and his wife, Jennie, were rained out of a planned two weeks on the Côte d'Azur. In search of sunlight, they set off for Aix-en-Provence; enchanted by the world and life they found there, they soon decided to uproot their lives in England and settle in Provence. They have never looked back. As Mayle tells us, a cup of café might now cost three euros-- but that price still buys you a front-row seat to the charming and indelible parade of village life. After the coffee, you might drive to see a lavender field that has bloomed every year for centuries, or stroll through the ancient history that coexists alongside Marseille's metropolitan bustle. Modern life may have seeped into sleepy Provence, but its magic remains. With his signature warmth, wit, and humor-- and twenty-five years of experience --Peter Mayle is a one-of-a-kind guide to the continuing appeal of Provence"--