A Wedding in Provence: From the #1 bestselling author of uplifting feel-good fiction

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Katie Fforde’s latest novel ‘A Wedding in Provence’ is a refreshingly energetic read and a nod to an era where young ladies, raised by nannies and destined for finishing school, was a very real thing. Writer of a number of romance novels, British author Katie Fforde was born on the 27th of September, 1952, as Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming. Growing up in Wimbledon, London, she spent the majority of her upbringing in the city, something which helped inform much of her later work. With her sister Jane Gordon-Cumming a famous writer as well, her fate as an author was sealed with her passion for literature established early on. The children's father - a count and very handsome often works away and Alexandra is left to cope with this alone. I loved writing this. Alexandra is such a strong character, she more or less told me her story. She did take me way out of my writing comfort zone, setting a book in France when I couldn’t go there, for a start, but I loved living in her world. She has skills she didn’t know she had and was extremely resourceful.

This was such a delight to read! The story flowed so smoothly. This is just the read I needed this past weekend to relax!❤️ Rounded down from roughly 4.5 stars ⭐️ Katie Fforde has done it again by creating another incredibly charming read! Although Alexandra’s stay in Paris is brief, Katie Fforde manages to convey the setting so well, but it is in Provence where a sense of place is so authentic. Alongside a smattering of accessible French that adds a je ne sais quoi, the use of wonderful food in particular, and the challenges of a chateau with insufficient funds to maintain it perfectly, all give an evocative feeling. Reading A Wedding in Provence made me want to visit the area immediately and wander the antique markets with David and Alexandra.Published since 1995, her romance novels are set in modern-day England. She is the founder of the "Katie Fforde Bursary" for writers who have yet to secure a publishing contract. Katie was elected the twenty-fifteenth Chairman (2009-2011) of the Romantic Novelists' Association. She is delighted to have been chosen as Chair of the Romantic Novelists' Association and says, "Catherine Jones was a wonderful chair and she's a very tough act to follow. However, I've been a member of the RNA for more years than I can actually remember and will have its very best interests at the core of everything I do." It’s 1963 and free-spirited heiress Alexandra has 24 hours in Paris before jumping on a train bound for finishing school in Switzerland. She bumps into Donna outside the Sacré Coeur, and there begins a chain of events that leads her to gaining employment from the handsome Le Comte de Belleville. He has ‘dark eyes fringed with long lashes’ and a ‘mouth that curled at the corners’. It comes as no surprise that she finds him ‘almost impossible not to fall in love with’. Alexandra is on her way from London to finishing school in Switzerland when she stops off in Paris for 24 hours. Whilst sightseeing she meets Donna. Alexandra comes to Donna’s rescue as her bag of shopping splits and she helps her to carry the escaped vegetables! Little does Alexandra know this small Good Samaritan act will change the trajectory of her life. She finds herself looking after a teenage girl, a not much younger brother and adopted much younger sister. The teenage daughter is not best pleased she's there! Then comes along the prim and proper granmere followed by the children's estranged mother who both insisit the new nanny is not suitable and the children should be sent to boarding school in England leaving behind their adopted sister. She finds herself in a chateau, looking after three children, unaided, two of which aren't keen to have her there, with a grandmerè who doesn't feel she is qualified, an estranged mother of said children, who wants to whisk the children away, and a friendly dog.

Having decided, at Donna’s insistence, to spend a little longer than the planned 24 hours in Paris, Donna tells her about a job in Paris an acquaintance is looking to fill. When she goes for the interview she has to lie about her age as it is for a nanny position to three children and she is only 20! The only nannying experience she has had is that of her own nannies who brought her up after her parents died. Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming was born 27 September 1952 in England, UK, the daughter of Shirley Barbara Laub and Michael Willoughby Gordon-Cumming. Her grandfather was Sir William Gordon-Cumming. Her sister is fellow writer Jane Gordon-Cumming. Katie married Desmond Fforde, cousin of the also writer Jasper Fforde. She has three children: Guy, Francis and Briony and didn't start writing until after the birth of her third child. She has previously worked both as a cleaning lady and in a health food cafe. The characters are varied and vivid. I thought Alexandra was wonderful as she is gutsy and vulnerable, emotionally mature for her age and yet able to relate to the children she finds herself looking after. She has more than a touch of Jane Eyre about her with added modern feminism! When I want to read some romantic fiction, Katie Fforde is an author I turn to first. As I have been reading and enjoying her novels since 1995, I think I can safely say her writing never fails to provide just what I need at the time. Romantic escapism.

Creative Play

Set in late summer 1963, A Wedding In Provence follows the adventures of Alexandra, a young heiress at the mercy of distant relatives, who whilst trying to stay in Paris, accidentally becomes nanny to three children in a chateau in Provence. She arrives to find the housekeeper has departed, a stove she can’t light, and the children are at first hostile (shades of The Sound of Music), but she gradually wins them over. Add in a handsome Count, some wonderful friends to help her out of fixes, a selfish ex-wife and some glorious food (she is really very good at food) and you have a very pleasant novel filled with delightful characters to while away a Sunday afternoon with. Also perfect if you happen to be confined to bed. I would recommend a large pot of tea and some French pastries as well. Warning: you will want croissants after reading this book. It also left me feeling a little uncomfortable when Alexandra was assessing men for their suitability as suiters and that she should prefer this one instead of that one because her's closer in age, Perhaps it was something that women did in the sixties? Look at men as potential husbands?