The Olive Farm, Season & Harvest - Carol Drinkwater

[Inver]

I read this trilogy quite a while ago now, but is one of my favourites.

 

Carol Drinkwater, better known probably as an actress, tells the tale of her real-life romance between herself and Michel a television producer and their olive farm in Provencal.

 

The Olive Farm - This was a book I couldn't put down. It takes you to the mediterranean world of living and tells of their ups and downs of living there and trying to get this farm up and running. It has a few tears on the way but once read I had to go straight onto the sequel.

 

The Olive Season - This was as good as her first book 'The Olive Farm'. Once again whisking you away to the world of the mediteranean and olives and sunshine. Carol is now pregnant and their gardener is threatening to leave. The harvest season approaches and she has to tend this with much doubt and apprehension trying to find water to ensure a good harvest. As the harvest season approaches there are dramatic events which may hamper the running of their farm.

 

The Olive Harvest - Loved this book. It lived up to its expectations having read the previous two in the trilogy. Carol writes these really well and feel privelaged that she wanted to share her story of the ups and downs of running the olive farm with Michel.

 

After reading the trilogy I then requested the 'Illustrated Olive Farm' on wish list for Christmas and have enjoyed browsing through all the photographs of the actual farm etc. Brings the other books to life.

[supergran71]

That sounds really interesting Inver. I remember her from the "Vet" programmes. The account sounds a bit like "A Year in Provence" which I read years ago, cant remember the author's name, but John Thaw played him in a TV adaptation.

[rosegarden]

Thanks, Inver, for the great review!

 

I saw Carol Drinkwater on a Cookery programme ages ago when she was talking about it and it sounded really good, so when I saw The Olive Farm while browsing in a charity shop last year I just had to buy it and then promptly forgot all about it - so thanks for reminding me

 

Carole

[Inver]

Thanks, Inver, for the great review!

 

I saw Carol Drinkwater on a Cookery programme ages ago when she was talking about it and it sounded really good, so when I saw The Olive Farm while browsing in a charity shop last year I just had to buy it and then promptly forgot all about it - so thanks for reminding me

 

Carole

Wish I had seen that Carole.

[chesilbeach]

Thought I'd bump this thread, as I read The Olive Farm a few years ago, and have had the next few books on my shelf for a while. I recently read The Olive Season and loved being back in the South of France with Carol and Michel, and The Olive Harvest will be my next read after the few fiction books I'm currently reading.

 

There are now a few more books in the series:

 

1. The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France (2001)

2. The Olive Season: Amour, a New Life and Olives Too (2003)

3. The Olive Harvest: A Memoir of Love, Life and Olives in the South of France (2004)

4. The Illustrated Olive Farm (2005)

5. The Olive Route: : A Personal Journey to the Heart of the Mediterranean (2007)

6. The Olive Tree: A Personal Journey Through Mediterranean Olive Groves (2008)

7. Return to the Olive Farm (2010)

 

(There is also a book called A Celebration of Olives listed, but I think this is an omnibus of the first two books).

[Inver]

I have still to catch up with a couple of them, Route and Tree and Return. All on my shelf. I really must read one soon. I loved them. Thanks for bumpin this one up.

 

Enjoy the Harvest Claire.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Inver

[vodkafan]

Hey Inver thanks for reminding me about Carol Drinkwater (and to Chesil for bumping the thread so I noticed) I had such a crush on her when I was growing up. Her and Lesley-Anne Down. Nice to know she found happiness doing something different.