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Peter Mayle (1939–2018)

Author of A Year in Provence

66+ Works 19,156 Members 362 Reviews 47 Favorited

About the Author

Peter Mayle was born in Brighton, England on June 14, 1939. He began his career in advertising as a copywriter and rose to the executive ranks, but left advertising in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young adults. His educational books including show more Where Did I Come From? and What's Happening to Me? His travel memoir, A Year in Provence, received the British Book Awards' Best Travel Book of the Year in 1990 and was adapted into a television mini-series. His other nonfiction books included Toujours Provence, Encore Provence, Provence A-Z, and French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew. His fiction books included The Marseille Caper, The Corsican Caper, and A Good Year, which was adapted into a 2006 film of the same name starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. Mayle died on January 18, 2018 at the age of 78. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:

This page was formerly split, presumably because the topics written about are very diverse and an assumption was made that they couldn't have been the same author. Works that were previously on #2 had been moved to #1, leaving #2 empty. All the works in the unknowns were related to works in #1, so I unsplit the page.

Image credit: Photo © 2006 Jean-Claude Simoen

Series

Works by Peter Mayle

A Year in Provence (1990) 5,518 copies
Toujours Provence (1991) 2,360 copies
Encore Provence (1999) 1,344 copies
A Good Year (2004) 1,160 copies
Hotel Pastis (1993) 1,155 copies
Chasing Cézanne (1997) 909 copies
A Dog's Life (1995) 747 copies
Anything Considered (1996) 747 copies
The Vintage Caper (2009) 660 copies
Acquired Tastes (1993) 596 copies
The Marseille Caper (2012) 340 copies
Provence A-Z (2006) 242 copies
The Corsican Caper (2014) 187 copies
The Diamond Caper (2015) 114 copies
Expensive Habits (1991) 69 copies
Provence from the Air (1994) 54 copies
Man's Best Friend (1984) 53 copies
The Provence Trilogy (1999) 45 copies
How To Be A Pregnant Father (1977) 40 copies
Provence (paintings) (1993) 21 copies
Baby Taming (1978) 20 copies
Sweet Dreams and Monsters (1986) 18 copies
Will I Go To Heaven? (1976) 10 copies
Postcards from Summer (1996) 6 copies
O Melhor Amigo do Homem (1998) 2 copies
Chi ha rubato Cesanne? (1998) 1 copy
2004 1 copy
Alt har interesse — Author — 1 copy
Der er ingen ende på Provence — Author — 1 copy
3x Provence (2015) 1 copy
Willie's Away (1988) 1 copy
The Honeymoon Book (1983) 1 copy

Associated Works

A Good Year [2006 film] (2006) — Original book — 116 copies
Travelers' Tales PROVENCE : True Stories (2003) — Contributor — 29 copies

Tagged

20th century (49) art (44) autobiography (133) biography (163) British (47) children's (39) cooking (62) culture (42) dogs (69) essays (95) Europe (61) expats (40) fiction (1,086) first edition (37) food (448) food writing (36) France (2,072) French (71) gastronomy (41) humor (461) literature (50) Mayle (61) memoir (795) mystery (210) non-fiction (912) novel (142) own (76) paperback (38) Peter Mayle (79) Provence (704) read (164) Roman (38) sex education (36) to-read (407) travel (1,641) travel literature (44) travel writing (90) travelogue (80) unread (70) wine (154)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Mayle, Peter
Birthdate
1939-06-14
Date of death
2018-01-18
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Brighton, Sussex, England, UK
Place of death
Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Places of residence
Lourmarin, Provence, France
Barbados
The Hamptons, New York, USA
Vaugines, Provence, France
London, England, UK
Ménerbes, Vaucluse, France
Education
Brighton College
Occupations
advertising copywriter
non-fiction author
memoirist
novelist
travel writer
educational writer
Organizations
Papert Koenig, Londres, New York (Publicitaire, Directeur créatif, | 19 74)
Ogilvy and Mather, New York (Publicitaire, 19 61)
Shell Oil, Londres (Publiciatire, 1957)
Awards and honors
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (2002)
Short biography
Peter Mayle was born in Brighton, England. Following World War II, the family moved to Barbados, where his father served as an employee of the British Colonial Office. Mayle returned to England after leaving school at age 16. His first job in 1957 was as a trainee at Shell Oil's London office. He was more interested in advertising than oil, however, and by 1961 had became a copywriter at Shell's ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather, in New York City. Subsequently, he was hired by Papert Koenig Lois and returned to London to head up the creative team there. When the company had financial troubles in the mid-1960s, Mayle and a colleague bought the London operation. They developed the business and after five years, it was bought by BBDO. He then commuted between the USA and the UK as creative director. By 1974, Mayle had tired of advertising and transatlantic commuting, and quit to write full-time. He started off by writing educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. He also wrote, with illustrator Gray Jolliffe, a series of humorous books about the character Wicked Willie. His most significant career move probably was the decision to relocate to Ménerbes, a village in the Luberon region of southern France, in the late 1980s. There his plans to write a novel were overtaken by the events of life as an expatriate in his new environment. They provided the material for his 1989 book A Year in Provence, an international bestseller that became a media phenomenon. Many more books followed, which were translated in more than 20 languages. Mayle also wrote articles for magazines and newspapers. A Year in Provence was adapted into a highly popular British television series in 1993. Mayle had to move to Amagansett on Long Island, New York, to get away from the thousands of fans and sightseers who showed up at his home in Provence. He later returned to France and a home in Vaugines, also in the Luberon.  The French government awarded him the Legion of Honor in 2002, for "coopération et francophonie."
Disambiguation notice
This page was formerly split, presumably because the topics written about are very diverse and an assumption was made that they couldn't have been the same author. Works that were previously on #2 had been moved to #1, leaving #2 empty. All the works in the unknowns were related to works in #1, so I unsplit the page.

Members

Reviews

 
Flagged
AnkaraLibrary | Feb 29, 2024 |
A delightful book. Makes you want to go there, or go again.
 
Flagged
hcubic | 21 other reviews | Feb 11, 2024 |
I can see why so many people like it, but this just wasn't for me. Endless lists and descriptions of meals bored me quickly.

Recommended: for some people (who are not me)
For people who like food, for people who like reading at length about people, for people interested in home restoration. Stay away if you want any kind of events or... anything of interest to happen.

Thoughts:
WOW did this bore the hell out of me. I can acknowledge that his writing style is smooth, with lush descriptions and lively characterizations of the people around him.

That said, nothing happened. The main elements of the book are:
- lengthy descriptions of food and meals
- various random conversations with locals
- details of home maintenance

That's just not interesting for me. This one star is not to say this is a poorly written book, but that I personally did not enjoy it. The overall experience was like talking to an older relative who unhurriedly traps me with boring descriptions of their trip.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Jenniferforjoy | 110 other reviews | Jan 29, 2024 |
If you're looking for something quick and light, this is a fun read set mostly in restaurants or wine cellars in France.
 
Flagged
ellink | 42 other reviews | Jan 22, 2024 |

Lists

Awards

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Associated Authors

Arthur Robins Illustrator
Gray Jolliffe Illustrator
Arthur Robins Illustrator
Edward Koren Illustrator
Daniel Casanave Illustrator
Jean Rosenthal Traduction
David Case Narrator
Ewa Adamska Translator
Leslie Forbes Illustrator
Gerhard Beckmann Translator
Paul Hogarth Illustrator
Judith Clancy Illustrator
Ruth Marten Cover artist, Illustrator
Ursula Bischoff Translator
Ehte Puhang TõLkija
Linda Uustalu Toimetaja
Mari Kaljuste Kujundaja
Weihang Song Translator
Lidy Pol Translator
Viktor Juhász Translator
Carla Wiberg Translator
Klaus Fröba Übersetzer
Jukka Saarikivi Translator
Leena Tamminen Translator
Ken Howard Reader
Jari Huovinen Translator
Ingeborg Ebel Translator
Love Kellberg Translator

Statistics

Works
66
Also by
14
Members
19,156
Popularity
#1,138
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
362
ISBNs
737
Languages
21
Favorited
47

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