Read your way through Provence...

If you are like me and you enjoy traveling through reading, here are a few books where you can get a taste of the Luberon and Provence while you're eagerly awaiting your trip to visit the South of France.

• Peter Mayle, an English writer who lived in Ménerbes, a village just a few miles away from Bonnieux, was one of the first authors to set off the craze for the art de vivre of Provence. His most famous book is A Year in Provence. He moved here in the late 1980s after being an advertising exec in London and decided to adopt the Luberon as his new chez lui and use this area as the background for a whole series of novels.

• Perfume by Peter Süskind. A German author who wrote the book which was subsequently made into a film of the same name. The Luberon is mentioned in this book and is a great read! This book will give you quite the olfactive tour of the South of France!

• Silk by Alessando Baricco. An Italian author who takes you between the Luberon and Japan in the 18th century for the silk trade. The Luberon in the 18th century was the main area in France for raising silk worms that live in the many mulberry trees that grow here. These silk worms produced high-quality silk which was then sent on to Lyon to be made into fabric.

Bonne lecture!