The olive farm : a memoir of life, love, and olive oil in the south of France / Carol Drinkwater

When the opportunity arises for Carol Drinkwater and her husband-to-be, Michel, to purchase ten acres of a disused olive farm in the South of France, the idea seems ridiculously far-fetched. After all, they are a young couple of limited means and have only been together a short time. But the splendor of the region becomes a force they are unable to resist. Michel presents their entire savings as a down payment for the farm, embarking the family on an adventure that will bring them in close contact with the charming countryside, querulous personalities, petty bureaucracies, and extraordinary wildlife (including a ravenous wild boar) of Provence. In the spirit of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence and Frances Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun, The Olive Farm is a splendid tour of southern France, from the glamour of Cannes to the Isles de Lerins and a Cistercian monastery on the tiny isle of St. Honorat, to Carol Drinkwater's own small piece of land, which she transforms from an overgrown plot of weeds and ivy to a thriving, productive farm, transforming in the process her own dream of a peaceful and meaningful life into reality. Book jacket.