The Marseille Caper

In Up the Agency, originally published in 1990, Peter Mayle turns his mind back to what drove him to the south of France in the first place: the advertising business, where he lost thirteen perfectly good years of his life. Once known as “the greatest copywriter alive,” Mayle’s uproarious and telling retrospective of the foibles of the ad man’s life wittily dissects this odd and fascinating industry, where clients are “pigs with checkbooks” and the speed of a new talent’s ascent can be matched only by his shocking fall months later. A sharp-edged look at an industry that brings both pleasure and pain to millions (and millions to a few), Up the Agency will bring certain pleasure to devoted readers of Mayle, Ad Age, and fans of the hit television series Mad Men. Digital and audio editions include a new foreword by the author.

With an updated foreword by Peter Mayle, Acquired Tastes (formerly Expensive Habits), originally published in 1993, is a celebration of life's extravagances. Exploring an aspect of human nature that, although lying dormant in hard economic times, is capable of erupting with the hint of good fortune and the drop of a credit card. It samples the luxuries of Havana cigars, Parisian Hotels, bespoke London tailoring, hand-made shoes, the proper color for a stretch limousine and weighs the cost versus the pleasure of keeping a mistress. Explaining the proper way to eat true caviar while providing the listener with hours of pure, unadulterated escapism.

National Bestseller 

In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

She and her husband, John, with their pate-loving dog, Folly, rejuvenate themselves by trading long work hours, traffic jams, and fast food for art, biking, and goat's cheese direct from the supplier. They garble French but figure out how to earn the best baguettes.

Gone with the Wine is not just a delightful story of their life, it also provides fascinating and fresh insights on everyday life, history, and the people of the earthly paradise called the 'Garden of France'. Joyful reading for real-life voyagers and armchair travelers alike!