The Olive Season - Softcover

Drinkwater, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1585675466 ISBN 13: 9781585675463

Publisher: Abrams Press, 2004

Synopsis

Upon their return to the south of France as husband and wife, they find there is much hope―and work―to greet them. With a farm consisting of fifty trees producing some of the world’s finest olive oil, no longer is the challenge one of restoring the farm but in charting its development and growth. France’s rigorous agricultural standards are responsible for some of the world's best produce but also for one of its most infuriating bureaucracies. In order to obtain the coveted AOC rating, Carol and Michel are forced to both expand their farm and to negotiate a Byzantine world of forms, officials, and inspections, including the surveying of their land by a water diviner, who, via a power akin to extrasensory perception, can point out the existence of underground water sources on their property. Further complicating matters is the fact that Carol has become pregnant with the couple’s first child and has just accepted a demanding acting role. As the harvest season approaches, dramatic events, culminating in a heartbreaking miscarriage, cast shadows over the olive farm. With all the warmth and vibrancy of the Mediterranean sun, Carol Drinkwater tells her passionate, moving, and utterly uplifting story.

About this title

About the Author:

Carol Drinkwater is a multi-award-winning actress who is best known for her portrayal of Helen Herriot in the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small, and is the author of more than 20 books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her quartet of memoirs set on her olive farm in the south of France have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and her solo journey through the Mediterranean in search of the olive tree's mythical secrets inspired a five-part documentary film series. Carol lives in the south of France, where she is writing her next novel.

From Publishers Weekly:

Striking a lovely balance of memoir, travelogue and olive-growing how-to, Drinkwater (The Olive Farm) delivers a richly textured account of her enviable life in southern France. She and her husband return from their wedding in Polynesia to their farm: "[P]erched halfway up the slope of the hill, our belle ‚poque villa comes into view. Abounding in balustrade terraces, nestling among cedars and palms... overlooking the bay of Cannes towards the sun-kissed Mediterranean, there it is." The author's roots are in acting, and her dramatic flair turns mundane chores-e.g., spraying olive trees with fungicide; learning the basics of beekeeping-into colorful celebrations of nature. Some of her adventures are quite funny, such as a stuffy dinner at a British Lady's home-it's the French equivalent of a McMansion, in a housing development "where the enormously wealthy and overly paranoid can vacation with peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that armed guards and coded gates keep the rest of the south of France out of sight and at bay." Drinkwater's description of her dinner companion at that gathering-"a convivial, lobster-faced aristocrat" who makes her feel like she's "in the company of a steaming kettle"-typifies her pointed yet kindhearted sense of humor. But at the heart of these optimistic musings lies Drinkwater's desire for a child of her own (her husband has daughters from a previous marriage), and this book is heartbreakingly framed around near-fulfillment of that dream. Drinkwater succeeds in illustrating not only the graceful countryside, but the buoying power of an adopted community and a devoted spouse.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1585675466
• ISBN 13: 9781585675463
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336