Novels based in the South of France

[MinnieMountain]

I’m looking for novels set in the south of France. I’m going there next month for a long weekend.

I’ve gone for Bonjour Trisesste, The Greengage Summer, Hot Milk and Madam Will You Talk.

Some to get me in the mood, some to read there.

Thank you for the ideas.

A random addition to my holiday pile will be Day of The Jackal. FIL was rhapsodising about it today.

Madam will you talk by Mary Stewart. Based around Nimes

I’ve just started reading that @SlenderRations . It’s currently 99p on Kindle. I’m enjoying it.

By the way, all the Mary Stewart novels are worth reading. I love Nine Coaches Waiting (also in France around Annecy), plus the ones set in Greece or the Greek islands: My Brother Michael and This Rough Magic. The Moonspinners also good, as is Thunder on the Right.

I loved Mary Stewart as a teenager/young adult - might have to revisit!

Set in Northern rather than southern France (or the part I've got through is, at least): Fresh water for flowers. This was recommended to me but I'm not sure what I think of it yet. Wondered if anyone here had enjoyed it.

I am also steadily rereading Mary Stewart. I love them but can't help noticing that the love story element is rather formulaic!

But in the end, who cares. They are a cracking read and she has a really good sense of place, whether that be France, Greece or her homeland of Northumberland.

Just to be pedantic but Greengage Summer is set in Champagne country, not the south. Still a great read though.

I'm currently reading (and thoroughly enjoying) Sun Damage by Sabine Durrant (it's set around Castels). Highly recommend.

Only just started it, so might go somewhere else, but Deborah Levy's Swimming Home.

You will be near Carcassonne so Kate Moses would be a good bet.

btw Beziers has had a big revamp in recent years and is now really lovely. Enjoy!

@eurochick thank you so much!!

I'm desperate for a new book right now too..

I grew up in Stockport which is twinned with Beziers so I'm irrationally excited about finally going 30yrs after leaving school and missing out on an exchange trip 😁

I love that the ideas keep coming.

I read Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks whilst I was away. It’s half set on an island off the coast there. I loved it.

@TonTonMacoute I devoured The Greengage Summer in a day.

@MinnieMountain

I heard this radio adaptation the other day, it was very well done.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002hwbz?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I have just started Mrs Endicott's Spendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen. It is on Kindle Unlimited. Very enjoyable so far.

Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn is set in the South of France somewhere if I remember right? Beautifully written but the events it describes are horrible.

A pp has recommended A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford - I would also recommend her memoir Quicksands, much of which takes place in the South of France.

Agatha Christie, Mystery of the Blue Train
Agatha herself didn't think much of the book, she wrote it after the end of her marriage when she was still recovering from her breakdown, but I like some of the characters.

Elizabeth Edmondson, The Villa on the Riviera
A Mary Stewart type mystery/romance

Elizabeth Edmondson wrote what she called 'Vintage Mysteries', generally with a post war setting. Unfortunately she died before completing her 'Very English Mystery' series.