A Wedding in Provence: The uplifting historical romance from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Alexandra is a very wealthy twenty-year old orphan, on her way to Switzerland to finishing school in 1963 when she decides to take a little detour in Paris. A series of fortuitous coincidences lead to her obtaining a job as nanny to a divorced Comte's three children in rural Provence, the basic qualifications being the ability to speak English and drive a car, she may have added five years to her age as well. When she arrives in Provence Alexandra is daunted at first by the surly children, the marge chateau and the complete lack of responsible adults. It appears that the Comte's three children (Henri, Felicite and Stephie have allowed to run wild, no tutors, no school and little Stephie can barely read. At first I was disappointed that Katie had decided to write a new 'series' loosely based on a group of young women who meet at culinary school in the early 1960s but I am starting to see that her signature romance of sheltered, virginal young woman and worldly man works better when set in an historical context, even if as another reviewer noted, there is very little in this book to suggest it was written about the past. Soon Alexandra is dealing with three rebellious children, her employer's ex-wife Lucinda who wants to send her children to an English boarding school, and Lucinda's mother Penelope who has very old-fashioned ideas about what is correct behaviour for her grandchildren. But Alexandra soon wins over her charges with cakes and brings in her old friend David, together with his travelling companion Jack to help teach the children music, mathematics and Shakespeare. Katie Fforde romances follow a fairly predictable formula and you either enjoy it or you don't. Her heroines are generally young and inexperienced (maybe briefly previously married to an older man, but only ever one previous romantic partner), they are artistically gifted, artists, pastry chefs, musicians etc, often dominated by an older relative, current fiancé, boss etc and victimised by elegant, stylish but spiteful other women for being young and beautiful. Now having watched Escape to the Chateau I know that restoring outbuildings, let alone a chateau, takes months of back-breaking work and is not achieved in a few weeks by a twenty-year old in a boiler suit with an Hermès scarf as a belt but in my imaginary world where the sun shines every day, the locals are charmed by an English accent, and amazing produce is available on every corner I do believe. I admit I found the first 15% quite difficult and I left the book for four weeks, but when I picked it up again I raced through it. Also, Katie doesn't skimp on the ending, everything is tied up in a lovely bow. I thoroughly enjoyed this, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea and I accept that the hero is perhaps no more than a distant figure (like the father in an E. Nesbit novel) but I find that preferable to some of her previous heroes who have been a little problematic for me. Anyway, if you want a gentle romance set in Provence with a LOT of wonderful food, two weddings and lots of wholesome fun then you need look no further. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

It is 1963 and our protagonist, Alexandra, is in Paris, en route to a Swiss finishing school which she isn’t looking forward to and would really rather stay in Paris. Through a friend of a friend, she finds herself in short-term employment as a Nanny to three French children, although not in Paris, but in sunny Provence, deep in the French countryside. Planning on staying with the family for a few weeks and then continuing onto Switzerland, Alexandra settles down to look after her charges. As time goes by, Alexandra finds herself indispensable to the children’s father, Antoine. As he is away so often on business, and the children grow fond of her, she agrees to stay a little longer. A Wedding in Provence is a lovely read, like all of Katie Fforde’s books. I immersed myself in French life and culture and found myself living in Provence with Alexandra, drinking rosé wine, eating pain au chocolat and relaxing in the sunshine. Katie is adept with her descriptive writing and location settings, so even if you’re reading this on a wet and windy winter’s day in the UK, you can close the blinds and pretend you’re somewhere else! Remember that A Wedding in Provence is set in the 60s and so some things aren’t as developed as they might be now. Homosexuality is still frowned upon and yes, English girls still attend Swiss finishing schools! (Do they still, I’m not quite sure)? However, this is a great read, and I’d recommend it to all Katie Fforde fans and anyone who just wants to get lost for a few hours. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and Cornerstone for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of A Wedding in Provence by Katie Fforde.

brilliant