Amour Provence
Amour Provence begs to be read on a warm, sun-drenched patio scented with lavender, surrounded in soft cushions, with a glass of vendange tardive in easy reach. Author Constance Leisure is an American who has lived with her family in a small wine village in Provence for many years and this, appropriately, is her love letter to the region, the culture, and the people.
The novel loosely follows several sets of intersecting families, friends, neighbors, and rivals through years as their lives and fortunes converge, separate, and converge again in the wine-making towns of Serret and Beaucastel. As with all small towns, the good and bad is that everyone knows everyone else – and knows all of their business. We meet high-school-age Didier Falque, tongue-tied in his longing for beautiful and privileged Berti Perra of Domaine Pettijean vineyards, just as he is seduced into an affair with a schoolmate’s mother. We learn the story of Moroccan immigrant and widower Hamidou, as well as that of his dear friend, the aged Euphemie, who survived the treachery of Nazi occupation but can’t escape the treachery of a daughter who commits her to the clutches of a nursing home. Secret hero turned mountain man Lapin, artist and frustrated father Jeannot and his angry teenage son Auri, mean-spirited Manu Dombasle, Bertie and Didier – all take their roles in the stories that play out over the ancient, vineyard-covered hills of the Midi as the unceasing mistral blows. Leisure paints an inviting picture, small-town warts and all. Pour another glass of wine and enjoy.