Olive Farm

April 23, 2001
Following in the footsteps of bestselling authors Peter Mayle (A Year in Provence) and Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), Drinkwater has written a memoir of her flight to the good life in southern France. "All my life-long, I dreamed of acquiring a shabby-chic house and renovating it," writes the author, a British actress who starred in the BBC adaptation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small. When she and her husband, Michel, spot a hillside villa with an olive vineyard in a village near Cannes, they defy common sense and become landowners. Never mind that it is moldering and insect-infested, the roof leaks and there doesn't seem to be any running water. Drinkwater's account of paradise regained involves bushwhacking through the intricacies of French property law and battling the elements of nature (wind, rain and fire), to say nothing of the eccentric local population. Alas, the book reads, by turns, like a catalogue of the author's real-estate woes ("We have a leaking roof!") and a ponderous love poem ("We are two embarking on this path together. Newly in love. Thrilled by one another... Investing in love, in one another."). Still, for all its false notes, the book describes life in the South of France with lush, voluptuous appreciation and successfully plays into our fantasies of the Mediterranean "land of liquor and honey." Agent, Ed Victor Ltd. (June 15)Forecast: Many readers will find this idealized portrait of a culture and a way of life most appealing. Drinkwater's book seems poised to attract fans of Mayle, Mayes and others of the expatriates-in-paradise genre.

April 15, 2001
Despite the inevitable comparisons to Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence and Frances Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun, this is a unique travel memoir of the author's years in the south of France. English screenwriter and actress Drinkwater, best known for her role in the BBC adaptation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small, visited Cannes to attend a television festival several years ago (the exact date is not revealed). It was then that she and her new husband instantly fell in love with an abandoned olive farm in the hills above Nice. Their adventure begins with a deposit of their life savings to secure the ten-acre property. Despite the many obstacles and her eventual realization that this may be her life's supreme folly, Drinkwater remains determined to make her dream a reality. Following her engaging story is like driving the hairpin turns that climb the hills above the French Riviera: the views are breathtaking, the blind corners frightening, and the safe arrival to the top a joyous relief. And the olives? After much work, an astonishing success. Highly recommended. Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2001
When Drinkwater and her husband, Michel, decide to purchase a ramshackle olive farm in the South of France, they have no idea how much work it will encompass or how radically their lives will be altered. Similar to Peter Mayle's " A Year in Provence" (1990) in spirit and tone, this memoir introduces readers to the splendors, hardships, and passions of a distinct region and culture. As Carol and Michel attempt to cultivate both the soil and a family, the requisite cast of eccentric locals delightfully assists them. This warmly evocative homage to the vivid texture and tenor of life in southern France will appeal to both seasoned travelers and armchair tourists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)