Rating: 
Summary: This masterpiece requires a response!
Review: What a great pleasure, from laughter to tears, to read The Magic of Provence! This review comes after a second reading, which is a first for me. I feel as if I know both the author and her husband as good friends. My compliments for a delightful mental trip to France.
Rating: 
Summary: A brief description of Yvone Lenard's new book.
Review: Yvone Lenard's look at her beloved Provence is light-hearted, fun, loving, and sensuous - celebrating its relaxed lifestyle and the abundant pleasures of its kitchens and vineyards. Her purchase of an ancient ruin of a house in a hilltop village twenty-five years ago opened up an enchanted world, which she describes with verve, wit, and sympathy - and, as a native speaker of French, with unusual depth of understanding. Provence casts its spell on the very first morning in her charmingly restored residence when a prince bearing a jug of village-produced vin rose shows up in her kitchen. The visit provides an entree into the household of the local chateau where both she and her husband encounter flirtatious advances along with dinner. The duchess who heads the family eventually becomes a close confidante when they share a memorable evening during a bitter cold snap, drinking tea laced with rum and making soup over the embers in Lenard's fireplace. Lenard and her husband have adventures at being chicken rustlers, dispatching graveyard ghosts, and traveling to Saint-Tropez where, "breasts are everywhere." Terry, a friend from Connecticut, locates another village ruin with the help of a spirit at a seance in Lenard's basement, restores it to perfection, and establishes a profitable bed-and-breakfast and guided tour business for antique hunters. Lillian, an unhappy Los Angeles widow to whom Lenard lends her house for a desultory visit, finds a vibrant new life in the village. Others drawn to the region, whose stories are told are Vincent Van Gogh, Brigitte Bardot, and Princess Caroline of Monaco. The "magic" extends to recipes for food and drinks, along with hints for entertaining in the Provencal style, temptingly placed at the ends of chapters. Like Alice you might eat a little of this and drink a little of that and be transported to the wonderland that is the South of France.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best!
Review: Yvone Lenard's tale of her times in Provence, is magical and very beautiful. Her writing style is great and I loved the recipes throughout the book. I keep this book in my kitchen for the great recipes!
| 
