Most Popular Books by Peter Mayle

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January''s frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

In his most delightful foray into the wonders of Provençal life, Peter Mayle returns to France and puts behind him cholesterol worries, shopping by phone, California wines, and other concerns that plagued him after too much time away. In Encore Provence, Mayle gives us a glimpse into the secrets of the truffle trade, a parfumerie lesson on the delicacies of scent, an exploration of the genetic effects of 2,000 years of foie gras, and a small-town murder mystery that reads like the best fiction. Here, too, are Mayle''s latest tips on where to find the best honey, cheese, or chambre d''hìte the region has to offer. Lyric, insightful, sparkling with detail, Encore Provence brings us a land where the smell of thyme in the fields or the glory of a leisurely lunch is no less than inspiring.

For more than twenty years, the internationally bestselling team behind Where Did I Come From? has helped millions of parents and children talk about the facts of life in a straightforward yet lighthearted way that is respectful of young people’s natural intelligence. Warmly and relatably illustrated throughout, What’s Happening to Me? creates a safe space where families can talk about the physical and emotional changes that happen during puberty and adolescence, answering the questions that kids ask most often. Why is my chest getting bumpy? What''s a wet dream? What''s a period? Why is my voice acting so funny? Why do I get pimples? What''s an erection? Why am I getting hairy? Why is mine not like his? This book answers the big questions, and explains the big changes. One look at the illustrations will tell you that this is not a dull medical textbook but rather it presents the facts of puberty, and it presents them with honesty, sympathy and a sense of humor. If you’ve been wondering how to have this talk with your children, look no further for a trusted resource that will give you the tools you need to share this critical information sensitively and factually. “You can''t deny Mayle''s talent for translating adult experience into child-level concepts.” —Kirkus Reviews

A delightful, best-selling tale about the business and pleasure of wine, adapted into a Ridley Scott movie starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. Max Skinner has recently lost his job at a London financial firm and just as recently learned that he has inherited his late uncle’s vineyard in Provence. On arrival he finds the climate delicious, the food even better, and two of the locals ravishing. Unfortunately, the wine produced on his new property is swill. Why then are so many people interested in it? Enter a beguiling Californian who knows more about wine than Max does—and may have a better claim to the estate. Fizzy with intrigue, bursting with local color and savor, A Good Year is Peter Mayle, beloved author of A Year in Provence, at his most entertaining.

The ultimate “dictionary” for lovers of Provence: Peter Mayle''s personal selection of the foods, customs and words he finds most fascinating, curious, delicious, or just plain fun. Though organized from A to Z, this is hardly a conventional work of reference. In more than 170 entries, Peter Mayle—bestselling author of A Year in Provence—writes about subjects as wide-ranging as architecture and zingue-zingue-zoun (in the local patois, a word meant to describe the sound of a violin). And, of course, he writes about food and drink: vin rosé, truffles, olives, melons, bouillabaisse, the cheese that killed a Roman emperor, even a cure for indigestion. Provence A-Z is a delight for Peter Mayle''s ever-growing audience and the perfect complement to any guidebook on Provence, or, for that matter, France.

A delightful, delicious, and best-selling account of the gustatory pleasures to be found throughout France, from the beloved author of A Year in Provence. The French celebrate food and drink more than any other people, and Peter Mayle shows us just how contagious their enthusiasm can be. We visit the Foire aux Escargots. We attend a truly French marathon, where the beverage of choice is Château Lafite-Rothschild rather than Gatorade. We search out the most pungent cheese in France, and eavesdrop on a heated debate on the perfect way to prepare an omelet. We even attend a Catholic mass in the village of Richerenches, a sacred event at which thanks are given for the aromatic, mysterious, and breathtakingly expensive black truffle. With Mayle as our charming guide, we come away satisfied (if a little hungry), and with a sudden desire to book a flight to France at once.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Taking up where his beloved A Year in Provence leaves off, Peter Mayle offers us another funny, beautifully (and deliciously) evocative book about life in Provence. With tales only one who lives there could know—of finding gold coins while digging in the garden, of indulging in sumptuous feasts at truck stops—and with characters introduced with great affection and wit—the gendarme fallen from grace, the summer visitors ever trying the patience of even the most genial Provençaux, the straightforward dog "Boy"—Toujours Provence is a heart-warming portrait of a place where, if you can''t quite "get away from it all," you can surely have a very good time trying.

Bennett is an English expatriate living in France with a champagne taste and a beer bankroll. Happy-go-lucky and a bit roguish, he places an ad in the International Herald Tribune offering his services -- any services. He pursues a response from a wealthy Englishman named Julian Poe who has developed a means of producing truffles and is close to cornering the immensely lucrative truffle market. Bennett signs on and finds himself in Monaco, where he is able to live in a style to which he has always wished to become accustomed (including eating to his heart''s content -- a Mayle trademark!). Soon the Sicilian and Corsican Mafiosi intrude and Bennett is joined by the beautiful and experienced (in all ways) Anna. Ham-fisted goons, gendarmes working at cross purposes, French village busybodies, and an order of monks dedicated to the god Bacchus all play a role in the surprising, and more than a little satisfying, denouement.

Once upon a time in Provence, Peter Mayle adopted a dog of uncertain origins and dubious hunting skills and gave him a name—Boy. Now he gives this canny canine a voice in an irresistible “memoir” that proves that the best vantage point for observing life may well be on all fours. As Boy recounts his progress from an overcrowded maternal bosom to unchallenged mastery of the Mayle household, he tells us why dogs are drawn to humans (“our most convenient support system”) and chickens (“that happy combination of sport and nourishment”). We share in his amorous dalliances, his run-ins with French plumbers and cats, and in the tidbits (both conversational and edible) of his owners’ dinner parties. Enhanced by fifty-nine splendidly whimsical drawings by Edward Koren, A Dog’s Life gives us all the delights we expect from any book by Peter Mayle—pedigree prose, biting wit, and a keen nose for the fragrance of civilization—together with the insouciant wisdom of which only a dog (and probably only Peter Mayle’s dog) is capable.

Hanky-panky on the international art scene is the source of the hilarity and fizz in Peter Mayle''s new novel. He flies us back to the south of France (a region some readers of his irresistible best-sellers believe him to have invented), on a wild chase through galleries, homes of prominent collectors, and wickedly delectable restaurants. There are stopovers in the Bahamas and England, and in New York, where that glossiest of magazines, Decorating Quarterly, reflects the cutting-edge trendiness of its editor, Camilla Jameson Porter. (Camilla has recently broken new ground in the world of power lunches by booking two tables on the same day, and shuttling between them, at the city''s trendiest restaurant.) It is Camilla who has sent our hero, Andre Kelly, to Cap Ferrat to take glamorous photo-graphs of the houses and treasures of the rich, famous, and fatuous. He happens to have his camera at the ready when he spots a Cézanne being loaded onto a plumber''s truck near the home of an absent collector. Odd, thinks Andre. And in no time he''s on the trail of a state-of-the-art art scam, chasing Cézanne. It''s a joy to follow him and the crowds intent on speeding or foiling his quest--including a beautiful agent; a super-savvy art dealer attracted to the finer things in life, especially if they promise the payoff of a lifetime; an awesome Dutch forger; some outstandingly greedy New York sophisticates; and, invisible in the background, the parade of remarkable chefs whose mouthwatering culinary masterpieces periodically soothe the hero and tantalize the reader of Chasing Cézanne.

With over a million copies sold, this classic children''s book has helped parents all over the world discuss the birds and the bees—without any nonsense. First published in 1973, Where Did I Come From? has helped generations of parents talk honestly with their children about the intimate world of human sexuality. Told in an age-appropriate voice respectful of young people''s natural intelligence and lightheartedly illustrated throughout, Where Did I Come From? creates a safe space where families can learn about the traditional facts of life—from the different parts of the body to orgasm and birth. If you''ve been wondering how to have this talk with your children, look no further for a trusted resource that will give you the tools you need to share this critical information sensitively and factually. “I give this book top grades for humanness and honesty. Some parents will find that its humorousness helps them over the embarrassment.” —Dr. Spock

A beguiling novel of romance, adventure, and tongue-in-cheek suspense set in the South of France, from the beloved, best-selling author of A Year in Provence. Simon Shaw, a rumpled, fortyish English advertising executive, has decided to leave it all behind, and heads of to France to transform an abandoned police station in the Lubéron into a small but world-class hotel. On his side, Simon has a loyal majordomo and a French business partner who is as practical as she is ravishing. But he hasn’t counted on the malignant local journalist—or on the mauvaise types who have chosen the neighboring village as the site of their latest bank robbery. Slyly funny and overflowing with sensuous descriptions of the good life, Hotel Pastis is the literacy equivalent of a four-star restaurant.

Gastronomy is a wonderful starting point to study France and the French. As the retired schoolmaster from Provence says ''The religion of France is food. And wine, of course.'' And they put their money where their mouth is, spending a greater proportion of their income on food and drink than any other nation in the world. Literally hundreds of gastronomic fairs and festivals take place throughout the year all over France - a frog fair, an hommage to the sausage, to the turnip, to the quiche and the noble Camembert. What kind of person is a snail-fancier? Is there a brotherhood of sausage connoisseurs? How can you devote an entire weekend to the French fry? Peter Mayle finds out and brings hilariously and affectionately to life the people who can get passionate about a frog''s leg or a well-turned omelette. Over ten years ago he transformed our feelings about Provence, now he captures the irresistible essence of France herself - and her food.

In Acquired Tastes, Peter Mayle, the erudite sojourner and New York Times bestselling author of A Year in Provence, sets off once more, traveling the world in search of the very best life has to offer. Whether telling us where to buy the world’s best caviar or how to order a pair of thirteen-hundred-dollar custom-made shoes, advising us on the high cost of keeping a mistress in style or the pros and cons of households servants, he covers everything the well-heeled—and those vicariously so inclined—need to know to enjoy the good life. From gastronomy to matrimony, from the sartorial to the baronial, Acquired Tastes is Peter Mayle’s most delicious book yet—an irreverently spiced smorgasbord of rich dishes you’re sure to enjoy. Praise for Acquired Tastes “Mr. Mayle is a writer who never fails to entertain. If he were told to go forth and write about doorknobs, he would return with a witty, perceptive essay.”—The New York Times Book Review “One of the finest modern writers on matters that deal with taste.”—Craig Claiborne “Much, much fun—and best read with a magnum of Dom Pérignon and a four-pound tin of Beluga caviar.”—Kirkus Reviews “Witty and stylish . . . These hilarious essays are vintage Mayle.”—James Villas, author of The French Country Kitchen “This delightful celebration of the little (and not-so-little) extravagances that make life worth living scintillates with wit, brio and trenchant observations”—Publishers Weekly “Intriguing.”—Chicago Sun-Times

From Havana cigars and hand-made shoes, to hundred-dollar haircuts, from truffles, vintage champagne and stretch limousines to caviare and cashmere, here is every excess one can imagine (and plenty more that one probably can''t).