Chasing Cezanne : A Novel

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.

with His National Bestsellers a Year In Provence And toujours Provence, Peter Mayle Gave New Meaning To The Phrase "great Escape." Now He Has Written A Delightful Novel Of Romance, Adventure, And Tongue-in-cheek Suspense, Set In The Beguiling French Region He Has Staked Out As His Own.

publishers Weekly

as Fans Of A Year In Provence And Toujours Provence May Have Suspected, Mayle's Skills As A Writer Translate Well Into Fiction. His First Novel Is As Adroit, Funny And Charming As His Previous Works, And Again It Is Set In His Favorite Region Of France. Newly Divorced, Disenchanted And Bored With His Job As A Director Of A Prestigious British Ad Agency, Simon Shaw Is Delighted When Beautiful Frenchwoman Nicole Bouvier Suggests That He Rescue From Bankruptcy A Half-finished Hotel In The Drolly Named Town Of Brassiere-les-deux-eglises. Taking A Huge Risk, Simon Resigns From His Agency And Becomes Patron Of The New Establishment In The Picturesque Luberon Region. In Counterpoint, Mayle Crosscuts To The Escapades Of A Lovable Band Of Criminals Who Are Conspiring To Break Into The Vault Of A Bank In The Neighboring Village Of Isle-sur-sorges. As The Threads Of The Plot Begin To Converge, Mayle Displays His Satiric Eye For Social Foibles By Skewering Advertising Execs In England And The U.s.; He Is Equally Adept At Evoking Typical Provencal Villagers. Wickedly Sharp And Sympathetic At The Same Time, His Characterizations Are Accurate Down To Nuances Of Class Differences, Voice, Accent And Vocabulary. The Novel Is As Smooth As A Sip Of Pastis, And One Hopes That Mayle Will Find His Segue Into Fiction Equally Addictive. 100,000 First Printing. (oct.)

They had been there often as tourists. They had cherished the dream of someday living all year under the Provencal sun. And suddenly it happened.

Here is the month-by-month account of the charms and frustrations that Peter Mayle and his wife — and their two large dogs — experience their first year in the remote country of the Luberon restoring a two-centuries-old stone farmhouse that they bought on sight. From coping in January with the first mistral, which comes howling down from the Rhone Valley and wreaks havoc with the pipes, to dealing as the months go by with the disarming promises and procrastination of the local masons and plumbers, Peter Mayle delights us with his strategies for survival. He relishes the growing camaraderie with his country neighbors — despite the rich, soupy, often impenetrable patois that threatens to separate them. He makes friends with boar hunters and truffle hunters, a man who eats foxes, and another who bites dentists; he discovers the secrets of handicapping racing goats and of disarming vipers. And he comes to dread the onslaught of tourists who disrupt his tranquillity.

In this often hilarious, seductive book Peter Mayle manages to transport us info all the earthy pleasures of Provencal life and lets us live vicariously in a tempo governed by seasons, not by days. George Lang, who was smitten, suggests: "Get a glass of marc, lean back in your most comfortable chair, and spend a delicious year in Provence."

An entertaining account of a year in Provence spent in a remote 200 year old Frech farmhouse. Told by an escapee from the advertising world.

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. 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 CEzanne 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 CEzanne. 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 CEzanne They had been there often as tourists. They had cherished the dream of someday living all year under the Provençal sun. And suddenly it happened. Here is the month-by month account of the charms and frustrations that Peter Mayle and his wife -- and their two large dogs -- experience their first year in the remote country of the Luberon restoring a two-centuries-old stone farmhouse that they bought on sight. From coping in January with the first mistral, which comes howling down from the Rhone Valley and wreaks havoc with the pipes, to dealing as the months go by with the disarming promises and procrastination of the local masons and plumbers, Peter Mayle delights us with his strategies for survival. He relishes the growing camaraderie with his country neighbors -- despite the rich, soupy, often impenetrable patois that threatens to separate them. He makes friends with boar hunters and truffle hunters, a man who eats foxes, and another who bites dentists; he discovers the secrets of handicapping racing goats and of disarming vipers. And he comes to dread the onslaught of tourists who disrupt his tranquility. In this often hilarious, seductive book Peter Mayle manages to transport us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously in a tempo governed by seasons, not by days. George Lang, who was smitten suggests: "Get a glass of marc, lean back in your most comfortable chair, and spend a delicious year in Provence." They had been there often as tourists. They had cherished the dream of someday living all year under the Provencal sun. And suddenly it happened. Here is the month-by month account of the charms and frustrations that Peter Mayle and his wife -- and their two large dogs -- experience their first year in the remote country of the Luberon restoring a two-centuries-old stone farmhouse that they bought on sight. From coping in January with the first mistral, which comes howling down from the Rhone Valley and wreaks havoc with the pipes, to dealing as the months go by with the disarming promises and procrastination of the local masons and plumbers, Peter Mayle delights us with his strategies for survival. He relishes the growing camaraderie with his country neighbors -- despite the rich, soupy, often impenetrable patois that threatens to separate them. He makes friends with boar hunters and truffle hunters, a man who eats foxes, and another who bites dentists; he discovers the secrets of handicapping racing goats and of disarming vipers. And he comes to dread the onslaught of tourists who disrupt his tranquillity. In this often hilarious, seductive book Peter Mayle manages to transport us info all the earthy pleasures of Provencal life and lets us live vicariously in a tempo governed by seasons, not by days. George Lang, who was smitten suggests: "Get a glass of marc, lean back in your most comfortable chair, and spend a delicious year in Provence." Dans le pittoresque village de Menerbes, au cœur de la Provence, un vieux bâtiment oublié prend une nouvelle vie sous la direction d’un couple britannique, déterminé à transformer un hôtel délabré en une destination charmante et pleine de caractère. Mais l’aventure s'avère bien plus compliquée que prévu... Dans Hotel Pastis, Peter Mayle nous entraîne dans un récit plein d'humour et de tendresse, où les mésaventures d’un couple d’expatriés se mêlent aux particularités de la vie en Provence. Entre rénovations chaotiques, rencontres inattendues avec les habitants et touristes excentriques, chaque jour apporte son lot de surprises. À travers une plume vive et empreinte de la douce folie de la région, Mayle nous invite à découvrir les joies (et les défis) de l’installation dans un village provençal, où le temps semble s’étirer et les petites contrariétés se transforment en anecdotes inoubliables. Un roman léger et captivant qui nous plonge dans l’atmosphère unique de la campagne française, pleine de charme, de rires et d'émotions.

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.

Publishers Weekly

British author Mayle shares his adventures in France's Midi in an enchanting book that stayed on PW 's hardcover bestseller list for 19 weeks. His new book, Acquired Tastes , will be published by Bantam in May. (June)

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... ϡ쯦랠 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.

The bestsellling author of A Year in Provence and Hotel Pastis now surveys his territory from a differnt vantage point: the all-fours perspective of his dog, Boy—"a dog whose personality is made up of equal parts Boswell and Dr. Johnson, Mencken and A. A. Milne" (Chicago Sun-Times). Enhanced by 59 splendidly whimsical drawings by Edward Koren.

Peter Mayle's newest book centers around the exploits of the author's beloved dog, Boy, who made his starring debut in A Year in Provence. A terrific reading experience and a perfect gift, A Dog's Life is illustrated throughout with 60 original drawings by popular New Yorker cartoonist Ed Koren. Animals

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. Les Invalides -- 3 The English Ecrevisse -- 15 Boy -- 27 Passing 50 Without Breaking the Speed Limit -- 37 The Singing Toads of St. Pantaleon -- 49 No Spitting in Chateauneuf-du-Pape -- 59 Buying Truffles from Monsieur X -- 73 Napoleons at the Bottom of the Garden -- 87 As Advertised in Vogue -- 101 Mainly Dry Periods, with Scattered Fires -- 117 Dinner with Pavarotti -- 129 A Pastis Lesson -- 139 The Flic -- 151 Mouthful for Mouthful with the Athlete Gourmet -- 163 Fashion and Sporting Notes from the Menerbes Dog Show -- 183 Inside the Belly of Avignon -- 193 Postcards from Summer -- 203 Arrest That Dog! -- 219 Life Through Rose-Tinted Spectacles-- 231. 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. All about a dog named Boy. He recounts his days as a bachelor, his contempt for hunters, his love--after a fashion--for chickens, his amorous interludes and his run-ins with plumbers and other human annoyances. By the author of Toujours Provence, with drawings by Edward Koren. Simon Shaw is 42, freshly divorced and tired. As he surveys the desolation of his former home in the wake of his ex-wife, he yearns for a life free of complications. But somehow a short break in the warm seductive air of Provence quickly turns into something more. The author introduces readers to some of the interesting characters found in the region of Provence--a disgraced gendarme, a gourmet in a track suit, and a man whose ambition is to make toads sing Tired and fed up, tycoon Simon Shaw seeks refuge in Provence, where he encounters a pretty Frenchwoman who lures him into buying a little hotel that proves far more troublesome than quaint When Simon Shaw is stranded in the small village of Luberon, France, an enchanting woman comes to his rescue and soon lures him into buying the local hotel The charms of rustic Provence, as savored by a London advertising man who moved there