South France

At the school gate, when she accidentally kissed one new friend on the nose and called another a "beautiful man-horse", Rachael realized that small-town France could hardly be more different to Australia. The smell of cigarettes replaced the tang of bone-broth and sprouted sourdough, the neighbors sometimes came to blows and under no circumstances would anyone wear active wear in public. Muddling through in terrible French pushed Rachael's family to their limits. Some days, everybody cried and ate their feelings with croissants. But the town of Sommières embraced these ragtag Australians.

‘She had me at Bonjour! Warm, funny, deliciously French…this lovely story filled my heart with sunshine’ Jane Linfoot Sometimes you need to lose yourself to find your way home… With only her trusty dogs Peanut, Treacle and Pickwick by her side, Poppy Kirkbride could be forgiven for...

In prose as crystalline as his view to the Pyrenees on a clear day, Allman animates Lauzerte and its surrounding communities—Cahors, Moissac, Montauban—all ever in thrall to the magnetic impulse of Paris. Witness to so many dramas over the centuries, his house comes alive as a historical protagonist in its own right, from its wine-cellar cave to the roof where he wages futile battle with pigeons, to the life lessons it conveys. “The onward march of history, my House keeps demonstrating, never takes a rest,” he observes, pulling us vividly into his world.

If Maggie is living her best life, why doesn’t it feel like she's in the right place? 'Great fun, delicious food, beautiful setting: excellent summer reading' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Sophia's best book yet' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The perfect read for a bright summer's day' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐...