Newsletter, November 2024
Good Morning,
I am writing this from my desk at our Mad Old Chateau east of Paris where it is misty, very wintery and damp. I don’t mind it though. Beyond the windows, the grass is full of mushrooms and mole hills while indoors we have a roaring log fire on the go. My mother loved this old stone house because, she said, it reminded her of her childhood on the family farm in Ireland. It reminds me too of my childhood days in Kent and that same family farm in County Laois.
As I deliberate, working through the next sentence for my book, the fire is crackling and a huge saucepan of Michel’s homemade chicken soup is boiling on the stove in the kitchen. It smells delicious and is a happy reminder that I can reward myself later after a few more concentrated hours at the screen.
We returned from the south, from our Olive Farm, yesterday afternoon after a too-brief stay there but as you can see from the palm tree pic, the sky was cerulean and cloudless. I had intended to spend our long weekend harvesting olives because we were rained off two weeks ago when several family members were booked to come and pick with us. Alas, it all got cancelled due to the heavy rain.
However, this weekend, various little unexpected domestic problems took up my time. As well, I am deep in a new novel and can’t seem to let it go! The olives will have to wait till our next visit which will be soon. They will be a little riper, slightly less green, but that stage of maturation also makes very delicious olive oil. It will be slightly less peppery, a little softer in taste.
When you look at the colour of our winter skies in Provence you can see where so many artists got their inspiration from. Isn’t this beautiful? Such a palette.
My world has been about my work. We are talking jackets with my publishers, seeking the perfect image for the front cover of my novel to be published next June. I have been a little reticent about saying too much about the novel before, but here’s a little bit of info now. I changed publishers last year so this is my first publication with them. We are waiting now for the corrected proofs. Once ready, they will go out to authors and bloggers to read who will, hopefully, say something encouraging about the book.
Its title is ONE SUMMER IN PROVENCE and it is set on a vineyard in the Esterelle (red-earthed) area of the South of France. This fictitious vineyard is the setting for a family story with plenty of intrigue when past secrets come to light. As the family prepares for a big-party weekend, two unexpected guests arrive at the estate, …
I hope that the novel will sink your senses into the light and heat of the Mediterranean sun, its amazing summer landscape, and introduce you to the family who have owned and cared for this fabulous estate for the best part of forty years … Of course, woven into the plot is a thread of tension and mystery to add spice to the mix.
As with all my books, at its heart One Summer in Provence is a woman’s personal journey.
As soon as we have a lovely jacket to whet your appetite, I will post it here as well as on my various social media sites.
The novel to follow One Summer in Provence is a wartime tale, sort of along the lines of An Act of Love in that it is a historical/twentieth-century story with a brave young woman driving the plot. I am having great fun writing it and am learning so much about the area in the south of France where it is set. I intend, fingers crossed, to have it ready to send off to my lovely editor later next year. (Bites nails!!)
I will write again before Christmas after our olive harvest and pressing to let you know how we have fared with it. Meanwhile, I have a trip to London planned and another to Amsterdam to meet my Dutch publisher, A W Bruna. Bruna is publishing my novels and has also taken the four Olive Farm books. Alas, not The Olive Route and The Olive Tree, the two Mediterranean travel books, but, hopefully, that is to come.
Here is my page on their site, if you prefer to read in Dutch.
Open Road in the US and Canada are publishing all four of the Olive Farm books plus the two travels books, The Olive Route and The Olive Tree. They have also taken my novels from The Forgotten Summer onwards
If you are in the States and Canada, here is their website.
So, life is quiet but industrious. We are both well, which is the most important of all. Christmas will be at the farm catching up on many land chores but more of all that in the next letter.
In the meantime, here is a Parisian pre-Christmas moment. I was in the city last night to attend one of Michel’s screenings. It was a rather excellent Chinese film. Before the film began I had a little wander up and down the crazily busy streets of the Right Bank. Unexpectedly, I found myself in front of an old department store, the flagship building of Printemps. I stood for ages just drinking in its elegance. It is from the Haussmann period of Paris architecture and is, not surprisingly, called Printemps Hausmann. Today I discovered you can book a guided tour to discover some of the nooks and crannies and secret entrances within the Grand Magasin. Its stained-glass dome is Art Nouveau and was designed in 1910. There is also a floating staircase in there somewhere. I drifted about, did not buy anything, but marvelled at the floors and other exquisite architectural details everywhere. If you are in Paris, it’s worth a visit.
Look at the beauty of this mosaic floor!
My reading has been quite extensive. Three for your TBR list if you haven’t already purchased them. All by writers I read regularly.
Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo, which is a fiercely-charged and sometimes electrifying study of grief and the damaging effects it has on two brothers after they lose their father.
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd. I confess I love almost everything Boyd writes. I buy his books the minute they are published. This one it is a wonderfully compulsive novel. Spies and sexual obsession and lots of lovely locations to dive into.
Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout. I seem to have joined the club of those who slip easily into Strout’s worlds. I have now read five or so of the Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge stories and am completely swallowed up in the small town universes Strout creates. Her work is compassionate and gently humorous.
So that’s all for now. Have an excellent November wherever you are. If you are in Australia or South Africa you will be celebrating the fabulous spring jacaranda season. One of my favourite and most abiding memories of all my splendid times in Sydney is walking the streets as the purple blossoms fell and carpeted the ground.
Take care, be well and read plenty.
Thank you for being here. If you find a moment, do let m know what you are reading and what you are up to.
Carol
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