NATIONAL BESTSELLER - In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs.

He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

An international and beloved bestselling children's classic, Where Did I Come From? helps parents and their curious children get up close and personal with the intimate world of human sexuality in the form of a picture book. Told in an age-appropriate voice respectful of young people's natural intelligence and warmly and relatably illustrated throughout, Where Did I Come From? creates a safe space where families can learn about the traditional facts of life--from the different parts of the body to orgasm to birth.

If you've been wondering how to have this talk with your children, look no further for a trusted resource that will give you the tools you need to share this critical information sensitively and factually.

The best description of sexual intercourse that is out there for children.
--Sexedrescue.com

You can't deny Mayle's talent for translating adult experience into child-level concepts.
--Kirkus Reviews

Why is my chest getting bumpy? What's a wet dream?
What's a period? Why is my voice acting so funny?
Why do I get pimples? What's an erection?
Why am I getting hairy? Why is mine not like his?

This book answers the big questions, and explains the big changes. One look at the illustrations will tell you that this is not a dull medical textbook but rather it presents the facts of puberty, and it presents them with honesty, sympathy and a sense of humor. If you've been wondering how to have this talk with your children, look no further for a trusted resource that will give you the tools you need to share this critical information sensitively and factually.

You can't deny Mayle's talent for translating adult experience into child-level concepts.
--Kirkus Reviews

Simon Shaw, a rumpled, fortyish English advertising executive, has decided to leave it all behind, and heads of to France to transform an abandoned police station in the Lub ron into a small but world-class hotel. On his side, Simon has a loyal majordomo and a French business partner who is as practical as she is ravishing. But he hasn't counted on the malignant local journalist--or on the mauvaise types who have chosen the neighboring village as the site of their latest bank robbery. Slyly funny and overflowing with sensuous descriptions of the good life, Hotel Pastis is the literacy equivalent of a four-star restaurant.

A delightful, best-selling tale about the business and pleasure of wine, adapted into a Ridley Scott movie starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.

Max Skinner has recently lost his job at a London financial firm and just as recently learned that he has inherited his late uncle's vineyard in Provence. On arrival he finds the climate delicious, the food even better, and two of the locals ravishing. Unfortunately, the wine produced on his new property is swill. Why then are so many people interested in it? Enter a beguiling Californian who knows more about wine than Max does--and may have a better claim to the estate. Fizzy with intrigue, bursting with local color and savor, A Good Year is Peter Mayle, beloved author of A Year in Provence, at his most entertaining.

When billionaire Francis Reboul finds himself on the wrong side of a Russian tycoon, he's fortunate to have vacationing friends Sam Levitt and Elena Morales on hand to help him out. Now it's up to Sam--who's saved Reboul's neck before--to negotiate with an underworld of mercenaries, hit men, and Mafioso, to prevent his friend from becoming a victim of Russian diplomacy. As usual, Sam and Elena still find time to enjoy the good life, but as Sam's sleuthing draws him closer to the truth, he realizes Reboul might not be the only one in trouble. Rich with clever twists, sparkling scenery, and mouthwatering gustatory interludes as only Peter Mayle can write them, The Corsican Caper is an adventure par excellence.

In no time at all Bennett is being paid handsomely to impersonate the mysterious and very wealthy Julian Poe. This entails occupying Poe's palatial flat in Monte Carlo, whizzing around in his Mercedes, and charging meals at the C te d'Azur's better restaurants. Unfortunately, there are certain complications ... involving Sicilian and Corsican Mafiosi, the loveliest woman ever to drive a tank, and a formula for domesticating the notoriously unpredictable black truffle. As orchestrated by Mayle, these elements make Anything Considered a novel of nail-biting suspense and champagne-dry wit, whose evocations of the good life are so convincing that you'll come away with a suntan.

Wine and food aficionados will find much to savor.... Light, funny, and packed with a menu's worth of scrumptious descriptions of exceptional dinners and drinks. --USA Today

The Vintage Caper begins high above Los Angeles with a world-class heist at the impressive wine cellar of lawyer Danny Roth. Enter Sam Levitt, former lawyer and wine connoisseur, who follows leads to Bordeaux and Provence. The unraveling of the ingenious crime is threaded through with Mayle's seductive renderings of France's sensory delights--from a fine Lynch-Bages to the bouillabaisse of Marseille--guaranteed to charm and inform even the most sophisticated palates.

When a Riviera socialite's diamonds are stolen--the latest in a string of seemingly unconnected but increasingly audacious jewelry heists across France--Peter Mayle's bon vivant and master sleuth, Sam Levitt, and his partner, Elena Morales, are soon on the case. In these perfect crimes, Sam sees the hand of a master criminal, but as he and Elena dig deeper, they begin to realize just how dangerous it may be to pursue the truth. In the midst of all the excitement, there's a house to renovate, ros to share, and feasts of the Proven al summer bounty to enjoy--giving The Diamond Caper all the hallmarks of another delightfully sun-splashed Peter Mayle adventure.

An international and beloved bestselling classic, Where Did I Come From? helps parents and their curious children get up close and personal with the intimate world of human sexuality. Told in an age-appropriate voice respectful of young people's natural intelligence and warmly and relatably illustrated throughout, Where Did I Come From? creates a safe space where families can learn about the traditional facts of life--from the different parts of the body to orgasm to birth.

As Boy recounts his progress from an overcrowded maternal bosom to unchallenged mastery of the Mayle household, he tells us why dogs are drawn to humans (our most convenient support system) and chickens (that happy combination of sport and nourishment). We share in his amorous dalliances, his run-ins with French plumbers and cats, and in the tidbits (both conversational and edible) of his owners' dinner parties. Enhanced by fifty-nine splendidly whimsical drawings by Edward Koren, A Dog's Life gives us all the delights we expect from any book by Peter Mayle--pedigree prose, biting wit, and a keen nose for the fragrance of civilization--together with the insouciant wisdom of which only a dog (and probably only Peter Mayle's dog) is capable.

In Encore Provence, Mayle gives us a glimpse into the secrets of the truffle trade, a parfumerie lesson on the delicacies of scent, an exploration of the genetic effects of 2,000 years of foie gras, and a small-town murder mystery that reads like the best fiction. Here, too, are Mayle's latest tips on where to find the best honey, cheese, or chambre d'h te the region has to offer. Lyric, insightful, sparkling with detail, Encore Provence brings us a land where the smell of thyme in the fields or the glory of a leisurely lunch is no less than inspiring.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Taking up where his beloved A Year in Provence leaves off, Peter Mayle offers us another funny, beautifully (and deliciously) evocative book about life in Provence. With tales only one who lives there could know--of finding gold coins while digging in the garden, of indulging in sumptuous feasts at truck stops--and with characters introduced with great affection and wit--the gendarme fallen from grace, the summer visitors ever trying the patience of even the most genial Provençaux, the straightforward dog Boy--Toujours Provence is a heart-warming portrait of a place where, if you can't quite get away from it all, you can surely have a very good time trying.

The French celebrate food and drink more than any other people, and Peter Mayle shows us just how contagious their enthusiasm can be. We visit the Foire aux Escargots. We attend a truly French marathon, where the beverage of choice is Ch teau Lafite-Rothschild rather than Gatorade. We search out the most pungent cheese in France, and eavesdrop on a heated debate on the perfect way to prepare an omelet. We even attend a Catholic mass in the village of Richerenches, a sacred event at which thanks are given for the aromatic, mysterious, and breathtakingly expensive black truffle. With Mayle as our charming guide, we come away satisfied (if a little hungry), and with a sudden desire to book a flight to France at once.

From gastronomy to matrimony, from the sartorial to the baronial, Acquired Tastes is Peter Mayle's most delicious book yet--an irreverently spiced smorgasbord of rich dishes you're sure to enjoy.

Praise for Acquired Tastes

Mr. Mayle is a writer who never fails to entertain. If he were told to go forth and write about doorknobs, he would return with a witty, perceptive essay.--The New York Times Book Review

One of the finest modern writers on matters that deal with taste.--Craig Claiborne

Much, much fun--and best read with a magnum of Dom P rignon and a four-pound tin of Beluga caviar.--Kirkus Reviews

Witty and stylish . . . These hilarious essays are vintage Mayle.--James Villas, author of The French Country Kitchen

This delightful celebration of the little (and not-so-little) extravagances that make life worth living scintillates with wit, brio and trenchant observations--Publishers Weekly

Intriguing.--Chicago Sun-Times

It is Camilla who has sent our hero, Andre Kelly, to Cap Ferrat to take glamorous photo-graphs of the houses and treasures of the rich, famous, and fatuous. He happens to have his camera at the ready when he spots a C zanne being loaded onto a plumber's truck near the home of an absent collector. Odd, thinks Andre. And in no time he's on the trail of a state-of-the-art art scam, chasing C zanne.

It's a joy to follow him and the crowds intent on speeding or foiling his quest--including a beautiful agent; a super-savvy art dealer attracted to the finer things in life, especially if they promise the payoff of a lifetime; an awesome Dutch forger; some outstandingly greedy New York sophisticates; and, invisible in the background, the parade of remarkable chefs whose mouthwatering culinary masterpieces periodically soothe the hero and tantalize the reader of Chasing C zanne.

Will Sam survive to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse? All will be revealed in the wonderfully satisfying climax to this as-only-Peter-Mayle-can-write-it romp through the south of France.