Virginia Quarterly Review

Only if thyme and lavender were somehow infused into the pages of this book would it evoke more emphatically the spirit and charm of the south of France. Part anthology, part travel guide, Vitaglione's project is a scrapbook of Provence's finest literary achievements, from Pagnol's splendid portrait of his childhood near Marseilles to Zola's masterful reworking of Aix-en-Provence.

The book's organization links individual destinations with the writers who got there first. Somewhat expectedly, Vitaglione ties F. Scott Fitzgerald to Juan-les-Pins, Colette to St. Tropez, and Van Gogh to Arles. But other great writers also make an appearance, among them Virginia Woolf, George Sand, Robert Louis Stevenson, Graham Greene, and Willa Cather. Provence is a notoriously beautiful, insouciant corner of the world, and Vitaglione--through the words of better writers--has captured the Provençal character admirably.

Virginia Quarterly Review