Perfume from Provence, Blackwoods First Edition 1935

Perfume from Provence, Summersdale Revival Series Edition 2009

Sunset House, Blaclwoods First Edition 1937

Sunset House, Black Swan Edition 1993

THANK YOU

The help and contributions from Lady Fortescue's relatives, Transworld Publishing, Society of Authors, and visitors to the site is much appreciated.

BOOK PAGE

Synopsis of all her books.

BOOK SALE

Find copies of your missing editions. Second hand copies of books are available from the site.

EDITIONS

Scan or photograph a dust wrapper and e-mail it to the site to have it included on the book page. There are still some missing editions.

VISITORS BOOK

Leave a message in the Visitor Book

Please sign the guest book or just have a look at what other people have left.

GALLERY

View the pictures in the gallery pages

Photo's of people & places of interest connected with Winifred.

CONTENTS

View the whole site contents, over 100 pages, listed at a glance and go directly to a particular page by clicking on the hyperlinks.

SEARCH

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RECIPE

Traditional Provencal Recipe.

LINKS

Links to related sites of interest.

ARCHIVES

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

2004 Archive

2003 Archive

FEATURES

Magazine Feature

The Riviera Reporter Magazine

THE DOMAINE WEB SITE

Valerie de Courcel - The Domaine, Art & The Garden

Click here to visit the site. Garden, Art & 2009 open days.

Dmaine Slide Show

Click here to see the slide show of The Domaine garden.

Lady Fortescue's original garden at the Villa Fort France has been awarded the label 'jardin remarquable'

SOME MORE INTERESTING BOOKS ON SOUTHERN FRANCE

Escape to Provence by Maureen Emerson, published July 2008

Escape to Provence
by Maureen Emerson.

Two Vagabonds in languedoc by Jan & Cora Gordon

Two Vagabonds in Languedoc
by Jan & Cora Gordon.

The Good Straight Englishwoman by Amanda Davies

The Good Straight Englishwoman by Amanda Davies.

Americans And The Making Of The Riviera by Michael Nelson

Americans And The Making Of The Riviera
by Michael Nelson.

Queen Victoria and the Discovery of The Riviera by Michael Nelson

Queen Victoria and the Discovery of The Riviera
by Michael Nelson.

The French Riviera A Literary Guide For Travellers

The French Riviera A Literary Guide For Travellers
by Ted Jones.

Abebooks

and a very warm welcome!

  • Thank you for visiting the site which has developed from a love of Lady Winifred Fortescue's books, France, and in particular, Provence and the Alpes-Maritimes. At the height of their popularity, in the 1930's - 40's, her books sold many thousands of copies making Winifred Fortescue a best selling author and bringing overnight fame. Concerned that interest in her books and her amazing life might fade with the passage of time, it was a delight to find that when Black Swan re-published some of the books in the 1990's they became best sellers once again. Perfume from Provence was serialized for BBC Radio 4 and released on a BBC audio cassette tape in the 1990's. The reader was the well known British actress Stephanie Cole.

  • Winifred Fortescue was a woman ahead of her time who, faced with various forms of adversity, would turn her hand to anything, make a go of it and generally succeed - usually but not always with a touch of laughter. I hope the web site will help to keep her work alive and allow you to enjoy some of the locations and personalities that Winifred new and, in addition, introduce new generations to the delights of Perfume from Provence.

  • Stop Press: After nearly 75 years, and for the first time since 2000, Perfume from Provence has just been re-published by Summersdale and is now available. Sunset House, the sequel, will follow in Spring 2010. More details below.

Sunset House artwork by Brian Sanders

  • The Provence that Winifred & John Fortescue moved to in the 1930's has changed almost beyond recognition. Her view down the mountain from 'Sunset House' now reveals a golf course resort, out of town shopping centre and many developments and roads although Opio village is largely unchanged. Grasse & Cannes have grown considerably and Nice, of course, is a very busy cosmopolitan city and resort. That said, many of the buildings in the books remain including the 'Domaine' and 'Sunset House', both in private ownership. Please browse through the pages, there are currently over 100. More photographs of locations that feature in her books will be added from time to time.

There's Rosemary There's Rue Artwork by Brian Sanders

  • Comments, contributions, photographs, information & suggestions are welcomed. Please do use the visitors book or send an email via the email link. The site is not commercial but second hand copies of books are sometimes available. Any income from the sale of spare books is donated to charity.

Trampled Lilies artwork by Brian Sanders

 

  • Winifred Fortescue was born in a Suffolk rectory on 7th February 1888, the third child of a country rector and connected, on her mother's side, to the Fighting Battyes of India. When she was seventeen - in order to ease the strain on family finances - she decided to try to earn her own living and went on the stage, performing in Sir Herbert Tree's company, and later starring in Jerome K. Jerome's The Passing of the Third Floor Back. In 1914 she married John Fortescue, the King's Librarian and Archivist and famous historian of the British Army. The marriage, in spite of a huge disparity of age between them, (some 28yrs),was a uniquely happy one, and although Winifred Fortescue gave up her career on the stage, she later began a successful interior decorating and dress designing business until illness forced her to close her business down. It was at that point that she began writing, for Punch, the Daily Chronicle, the Evening News, finally inaugurating and editing a Woman's Page for the Morning Post. (Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree founded RADA in 1904 and was Grandfather of actor Oliver Reed).

 

Some of the editions of Winifred Fortescue's 7 books

 

  • Winifred Fortescue died in Opio, Provence, in April 1951. A fuller biography can be found on the Lady Fortescue page.

 

Click to visit the BBC Children in Need Website

June 2009

REMINDER

Maureen Emerson, the author of 'Escape to Provence',  is giving an illustrated talk at Haywards Heath Library in Sussex on July 17th. If you are in the south of England this is a great opportunity to hear Maureen in person. Full details on the 'Escape to Provence' page.

Escape to Provence by Maureen Emerson, published July 2008
  • Another early aerial photo of Opio Village has been obtained and added to the site. This one is in colour! It shows the olive mill, Elisabeth Starr's home, the Castello, and a tiny corner of Sunset House  Click here.

  • Maureen Emerson, the author of 'Escape to Provence', has written a fascinating detailed history of the Sunny Bank Anglo American Hospital, (now demolished), at Cannes. To read the article visit the Cannes page.

May 2009

  • Perfume from Provence - as promised, brand new, just published copies are now available in bookshops, Amazon or direct from the publisher free of postage. Click here for more details. If you do not have a copy or just want a brand new shiny one to keep why not treat yourself now! The website has been given a quote on the back cover notes! Thank you very much to Summersdale for the publicity. Remember that Sunset House follows in Spring 2010.

  • Apologies if you have had trouble viewing the site recently. The hosting company has been migrating it to their new hosting platform and it has not gone very smoothly! Bits were missing for a few days and it was impossible to update for nearly a week.

  • Set of 3 Black Swan edition paperbacks in very good condition and 2 full length un-abridged talking books on 6 cassette tapes each currently available to buy. Click here for more details.

  • Pictures of the full cover of the new 2009 Perfume from Provence edition added along with new pictures of Sunset House and Trampled Lilies Talking Book tape versions.

  • Maureen Emerson, author of 'Escape to Provence',  is giving a talk at Haywards Heath in Sussex on July 17th. If you are in the south of England this is an opportunity to hear Maureen in person. Full details on the 'Escape to Provence' page.

  • Larger better quality PDF versions of John & Winifred's birth, marriage and death certificates added.

April 2009

  • The Chemin de Fer Provence will once again be operating the steam hauled service on Sundays between May 17th and October 11th 2009. Full details and link to timetable on CDFP page.

  • An interesting 1941 USA magazine entitled, The Saturday Review of Literature, has recently been secured. It contains a review of There's Rosemary There's Rue shortly after it was published in the USA. Click here to see the review.

  • Contributor Mr. P. Martin has sent a scan of his collection of books - click here to see the covers. The pictures are of very high quality but have had to be 'watered down' to make the page open. Do you have any interesting jackets that might be missing?

  • 'Escape to Provence'. New copies now available from author Maureen Emerson following the re-print of her book. The price is now £10.99 plus £2 p&p. To order direct from the author/publisher, click here.

March 2009

Fort France Garden Guide

  • The 2009 opening dates and times for the garden at Villa Fort France, Winifred Fortescue's original home, are now available. If you are in the area its well worth a visit to see the lovely garden. The Fort France garden brochure has been added to the added to site. Click here for full details.

  • Black Swan editions of Lady Fortescue's first three books are available to purchase at £18 on the book sale page.

  • A new review of Maureen Emerson's Book, 'Escape to Provence', has been published in the West Sussex County Times. Click here to see all the reviews of this excellent book.

February 2009

  • The company that hosts the website are in the process of moving to a new and better hosting platform! As a result certain features may not work as normal, for the time being. In particular, the forms used for the visitors book and book order pages are slightly problematic! If you experience any difficulty just send an email by using enquiries@perfumefromprovence.com There may be the odd page hiccup from time to time but normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Please continue to enjoy visiting the site and leaving your messages. - Peter, Webmaster.

  • UPDATE - New form for the Visitors Book is now installed and works well. It also has a nice anti-spam feature to prove humans are submitting the form and not robots. Do give it a try. Most web users will have seen it before. A similar form for the book ordering page will follow.

  • UPDATE - A new form has now been installed on the book order page. Thank you for your patience. Any problems, do let me know!

  • 'Escape to Provence', by Maureen Emerson. A re-print is currently being arranged and new copies, priced at £10.99, should be available later this Spring.  Maureen will be promoting her book in France in April 2009. Click here for details. A review by the LMS Magazine of Sophia Antipolis has been added to the site.

January 2009

  • I am absolutely delighted to confirm that nearly 75 years after it first appeared, Winifred Fortescue's original book, Perfume from Provence, is being re-printed and will be available from May 5th 2009. Published by Summersdale Publishing Ltd, as part of the Summersdale Revival Series, this will be the first re-print since the Black Swan edition of 2000. With 320 pages, and priced at just £7.99, it is sure to become a best seller once again. This edition carries a completely new cover design which is very fitting. To add to this exciting news, Summersdale have also confirmed they will be launching a new edition of the the sequel, Sunset House, in Spring 2010. What a marvellous start to 2009!

Perfume from Provence by Summersdale Publishing - May 2009

AVAILABILITY

  • The new 2009 edition will be available from May 5th through Amazon or direct from the publishers www.summersdale.com.  An order form is available if you prefer to send a cheque by post. Visitors to this site can obtain the book post free by this method, courtesy of Summersdale. It will also appear in book shops and for the first time in its history the book will also be available as an e-book which means it can be downloaded direct from the publishers web site in due course. What would Winifred Fortescue have made of that? For full details click here.

Visit the Summersdale web site to see their fabulous range of products.

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Updated - 18 Jun 2009 10:12