Travel through the landscapes of A SPELL IN PROVENCE

A SPELL IN PROVENCE is set in the Lubéron region, near Bonnieux. I am not alone in finding that part of France incredibly beautiful and inspiring. Here are a few photos of the area for you to enjoy.

 

Fountains have a very special importance in the novel, but they are, and always were, very important in Provence. According to an old Provençal saying 'Eici, l'aigo es d'or', which translates by 'Here, water is gold' - and no wonder when you think how hot it can get in the summer and how parched the earth can be. Anyone who read the wonderful 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon des Sources' by Marcel Pagnol, or who saw the films, can remember the struggles and hardship the characters faced and their anguish of the characters when the water supply ran dry.



There are so many beautiful villages dotting the countryside. Bonnieux, Saignon, Gordes, and Buoux, to name but a few. Several of them feature in the story.

My heroine buys Bellefontaine, a 'bastide' (an old farmhouse) she has renovated and she plans to open as a guesthouse....and where eerie things happen. But I don't want to give too much of the story away! I had a very precise image of the place in my mind. The photo below is almost exactly how I imagined Bellefontaine to be. I can almost smell the pink laurels and the herbs in the garden...

My hero is heir to an old aristocratic family and has turned his ancestral manor house into a luxury hotel. Once again, the location is based on a real place - the castle in Lourmarin - but I have of course changed a few details.

Lastly, there is the ancient village of 'Bories', these stone huts dating back from the Iron Age for some, and which were until a few decades ago, still used as shelter by shepherds. In A SPELL IN PROVENCE I used the bories as setting for a couple of dramatic scenes!

Some bories are scattered in the landscape, like this one.

 

I hope you enjoyed my photo tour of the locations of A SPELL IN PROVENCE.

Have you ever been in Provence? Which village or landscape did you find the most memorable?

I would love to hear from you!

 

A SPELL IN PROVENCE is published by Accent Press and is available from

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00RVQO8RM

and in print from http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/2529/13421/A-Spell-in-Provence.html