It was the bestselling book that inspired endless Britons to queue up and buy homes among olive groves in the south of France.
Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence, has died at 78 in a hospital near his home in the Provence village of Vaugines following a short illness, his American publisher said last night.
Tapping into the middle-class dream of buying and renovating a second home in southern France, his book sold almost two million copies in the UK and led to a boom in Britons descending on the region.
Author Peter Mayle has died at the age of 78 after a brief illness, his publisher said
The 1989 memoir, recalling his life as an expat in the village of Menerbes, sold almost six million copies and was translated into more than 20 languages.
His 2004 novel A Good Year was the basis for the 2006 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. Mr Mayle and his wife Jennie settled in Vaugines following a move to the Hamptons in Long Island, New York, to get away from fans who constantly visited his rural French home made famous by his book.
In 2010 he said: ‘I remember the first fan well, a man in a BMW. I invited him in, plied him with wine and signed his book at least twice. He was followed over the course of several years by hundreds of others.’
A Year in Provence, which recounted the difficulties first-time expats are likely to experience, captured the imagination of thousands. Speaking 20 years after writing it, Mr Mayle said he had fallen in love with Provence while trying to write a novel.
‘I found myself completely distracted – much more taken up with the curiosities of life in Provence than with getting down to work on the novel,’ he said.
‘The daily dose of education I was receiving at the hands of the plumber, the farmer next door, the mushroom hunter and the lady with the frustrated donkey was infinitely more fascinating than anything I could invent.’
Born in Brighton on June 14, 1939, Mr Mayle moved after the Second World War with his two siblings and parents to Barbados, where his father worked for the Foreign Office.
His works included the 1989 best-seller A Year in Provence, detailing his move from England to France, as well as educational books and children’s stories
Aged 18, he joined Shell Oil in London as a trainee, and then became an advertising executive.
In an interview with the Daily Mail in 2010, Mr Mayle was asked where he most felt at home. He said: ‘Provence, which has been my home for the past 20 years and where I plan to live out the rest of my days.’ But he said his next favourite destination was New York, adding: ‘It’s so different to where I live in Provence that it’s like going to another planet. It’s endlessly stimulating.’
In his 2001 book French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew, serialised in the Mail, the Francophile recalled losing his ‘gastronomic virginity’ in a restaurant in Paris aged 19.
‘At the first mouthful of French bread and French butter, my taste buds, dormant until that point in my life, went into spasm,’ he said.
He even produced a sex education book – Where Did I Come From? – which included cartoons featuring the reproductive process. It was banned in Malaysia in 2012 by the country’s home ministry, who said the guide contains ‘elements that undermine societal morals and public interests’.
It was not until the 1980s that Mr Mayle relocated to France, intending to write a novel.
Asked in 2010 if he would continue writing, the father of five, who had seven grandchildren, replied: ‘Oh yes, either that or boredom, isn’t it? I enjoy what I do so I will do it until I can barely lift a finger to the keyboard.’
A statement from his publisher on Twitter last night read: ‘We are sad to report that Peter Mayle, the beloved writer who wrote multiple bestselling books about life in Provence, died early today at a hospital near his home in the south of France. He was 78.’
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf said Mayle died in a hospital near his home in the south of France after a short illness