The Olive Season
By The Author of the Bestselling The Olive Farm
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4.7 • 12 Ratings
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- £5.49
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
NOW A MAJOR NEW TV SERIES: CAROL DRINKWATER'S SECRET PROVENCE
Second in the bestselling Olive Farm story from the bestselling author of THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER
'She writes so well you can almost smell the sun-baked countryside' BELLA
'Vibrant, intoxicating and heart-warming' SUNDAY EXPRESS
'I scan the terraces, planted with row upon row of ancient olive trees. It is April, late spring. Here in the hills behind the Cote d'Azur the olive groves are delicately blossomed, with their tiny, white-forked flowers. Beyond them, perched halfway up the slope of the hill, our belle epoque villa comes into view. Abounding in balustrade terraces, nestling among cedars and palms, facing out at a south-westerly angle, overlooking the bay of Cannes towards the sun-kissed Mediterranean, there it is, Appassionata, awaiting us...'
THE OLIVE FARM told how Carol Drinkwater and partner Michel fell in love with and bought an abandoned Provencal olive farm. Now, in THE OLIVE SEASON, Carol is pregnant and their ever-loyal gardener is leaving to oversee the marriage of his son. Often unassisted, and with new challenges to face, Carol takes on the bulk of the farm work alone. Water is, as ever, a costly problem, and she goes in search of a diviner who promises almost magical results. But, as the harvest season approaches, dramatic events cast dark shadows of their olive farm.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Striking a lovely balance of memoir, travelogue and olive-growing how-to, Drinkwater (The Olive Farm) delivers a richly textured account of her enviable life in southern France. She and her husband return from their wedding in Polynesia to their farm: "erched halfway up the slope of the hill, our belle poque villa comes into view. Abounding in balustrade terraces, nestling among cedars and palms... overlooking the bay of Cannes towards the sun-kissed Mediterranean, there it is." The author's roots are in acting, and her dramatic flair turns mundane chores e.g., spraying olive trees with fungicide; learning the basics of beekeeping into colorful celebrations of nature. Some of her adventures are quite funny, such as a stuffy dinner at a British Lady's home it's the French equivalent of a McMansion, in a housing development "where the enormously wealthy and overly paranoid can vacation with peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that armed guards and coded gates keep the rest of the south of France out of sight and at bay." Drinkwater's description of her dinner companion at that gathering "a convivial, lobster-faced aristocrat" who makes her feel like she's "in the company of a steaming kettle" typifies her pointed yet kindhearted sense of humor. But at the heart of these optimistic musings lies Drinkwater's desire for a child of her own (her husband has daughters from a previous marriage), and this book is heartbreakingly framed around near-fulfillment of that dream. Drinkwater succeeds in illustrating not only the graceful countryside, but the buoying power of an adopted community and a devoted spouse.
