Month: October 2018

The author of this new book, entitled Vi, was born in Saigon in 1968, and left Vietnam with the boat people at the age of ten to settle with her family in Quebec.

She has done a great many successful things, including studying and practicing law, as well as working as an interpreter, restaurant owner, and commentator on radio and television. She has published an earlier book, Ru, which was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

In Vi she uses her own experience to describe the life of four children of which Vi is the youngest, and the only daughter. They escape the Vietnam war, but her father, who was rich and spoiled, stayed behind, leaving the family to make a new life for themselves in Canada. Vi turns out to have a lot of courage. Apart from life in Montreal, she headed to Boston, and later was present at the fall of the Berlin Wall. This book gives an intriguing picture of one woman’s enterprise and shows us again what those Vietnamese people had to go through.

Reviewed by Anne McDougall

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Peter Mayle was a well-known English journalist who worked in London and New York and wrote fifteen books, including trips he had made abroad, mostly to southern France.

His favorite spot, to which he and his wife Jennie kept returning, was Provence, in the south of France. They found the three hundred days of sunshine, as well as the fine countryside, historic old building, special food and a world-famous variety of the Wine, Rose.

They finally took the plunge and decided to leave England permanently and move to Provence. This book tells of their experience in finding an agent who finally turns up a beautiful house on the northern side of the Luberon Mountains in the village of Gordes, which had a wonderful peaceful view. We learn of some of the problems of settling in, learning the language (instead of sticking to English only and remaining with the group who never really entered French life). What they thoroughly enjoyed was the ebb and flow of village life, especially joining in to the group dropping in to the cafes for meals. They learned how to grow their own truffles, which was difficult, and got help in caring for their small vineyard.

Mayle is candid about the difficulty of leaving one’s own country forever – – made somewhat easier by the fact they had no children, only two dogs, who seemed happy with the move. His happiness is infectious, however, and the book is written with all his usual charm.

Reviewed by Anne McDougall

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