Made me want to sack it all in and move to France!

A wonderfully rich story full of tears and joy. I could hear, see and smell the beautiful French countryside. So moving in parts, I don't know how Carol carried on reading. Can't wait to download the next instalment!

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Beautifully written&narrated, a feel good story :)

Beautifully written&narrated, a feel good story :)

Lovely book to stimulate imagination and relaxation + such a lovely narration voice. I plan to listen to the entire trilogy.

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Problem oriented story steps to farm south France

It's a story about international family (Irish woman & divorced French man w. family) buying almost ruined house together. In story house is situated between Cannes and Frejus. Story is the Irish womans point of view.

First summer they move in before they own house. It's made possible by pre-payment and scheduled buying agreement. Starting without water, electricity and leaking roof they manage to spend a summer without quarrels. In the end she get's to stage of starting olive garden.

It's quite like Peter Mayle's Year in provence, but it doesn't concentrate French-English confrontation and secrets of France like Mayle does a lot. It's more problems oriented like handling bying a property as (Irish) foreigner and owning house as foreigner and living abroad. So if you are even thinking bying house in France this is really worth of listening.

Sample is too short to tell enough of this book. If you liked the "Year in Provence" you most likely end up bying more than this first book. I liked it and it was easy enough to listen as not a native English speaker.

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5 people found this helpful

talented author ...

Won't be satisfied until I've listened to all the offerings relating to the author's Olive Farm and research experience ... I adore how C.D writes .... well recommended if you enjoy travel and new adventures.

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Enjoyable first audio book

This is my first audio book so didn't really know what to expect. However, it was easy to listen to and I enjoyed the story. I could smell and feel the farm and I enjoyed following the time Carol and Michel (and the others) spent there.

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Loved it.

Evocative. Beautifully written and read. Brings me right back to the South of France. 15 more words.

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A little frustrating

Firstly, I love it when authors narrate their own books so kudos for that. Unfortunately, even though she’s an actress, I found her a little hard to listen to and ended up slowing her down to 0.9x which sounded better to my ears. The writing seems a little off somehow and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s written in first-person present-tense which I personally feel is an odd choice for an autobiographical tale - perhaps that’s just me? I’m not going to judge the author on any of her lifestyle choices in any way but I did wince on a few occasions. All in all, it was okay as background noise while I worked but I regret buying it, wouldn’t listen to it again and don’t feel I could recommend it, sorry.

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A charming easy listener

One of the first audio books I bought was Peter Mayle's Year in Provence, having heard it on Radio 4's book of the week, and this is a return to similar territory but the with added interest of the development of an olive farm and the attendant technical and horticultural activities. The author narrator is an accomplished actress, who does an excellent job of bringing it all to life and overall it is a charming easy listener, which provided an interesting break from my usual crime and history diet.

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9 people found this helpful

Wonderfully written and read

Carol’s retelling of her story is memorising, the descriptions of the places and people make you feel you are there with her. It is a truly inspirational read and listening to it read by Carol add the most fantastic depth to the story - recommending to everyone who will listen

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1 person found this helpful

An outstanding read

An exceptional book. Listening to the naration you are transported to the south of France. I cannot wait to find the next book by Carol Drinkwater.

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