London-born Carol Drinkwater first shot to prominence as an actress during the 1970s, appearing in a variety of TV, film and stage roles. In 1985, she received the Variety Club TV Personality of the Year award for her portrayal of Helen Herriot in the original BBC TV adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, based on the much-loved series of books by James Herriot about the life of a Yorkshire country vet.
Whilst filming on location in Australia for a subsequent role, Drinkwater wrote a children’s novel about a young 19th-century English teacher struggling to establish a new school in the Australian outback. Published in 1986, The Haunted School was adapted into a popular TV mini-series by French filmmaker, Michel Noll, with the author herself taking the leading role. Only a few months after first meeting, the pair decided to buy a disused 10-acre olive farm together in the south of France and subsequently married two years later.
In the early 2000s, Drinkwater published a series of bestselling memoirs based around the fascinating story of their long-running project to restore the dilapidated farmhouse, along with its ancient olive groves. The popular British author has also written extensively for both the adult and young adult fiction markets.
The following 10 Carol Drinkwater books include evocative historical fiction, as well as compelling tales of passion and intrigue and her own engaging personal memoir.
The Lost Girl
The action is divided between modern-day Paris and post-war Provence in this “gripping tale” (Sunday Post), which deals with universal themes like love, loss and hope even in the most difficult of circumstances.
Photographer Kurtiz Ross despairs of ever finding her daughter Lizzie, who disappeared without trace four years ago, until she receives news of a chance sighting of the missing 20-year-old. On hearing that Lizzie is expected to attend a concert at the Bataclan in Paris that evening, Kurtiz rushes straight to the French capital only to find herself caught up in one of the worst terrorist attacks of modern times. As the night’s traumatic events unfold, she encounters Marguerite, an elderly French actress, whose own compelling story of enduring love and loss in the aftermath of World War II proves an unexpected source of comfort and hope.
The House on the Edge of the Cliff
The past and the present collide in this “epic tale of love and betrayal” (Sunday Post) which follows the story of the book’s main protagonist, Grace, over the course of half a century.
The peace and stability of Grace’s present life with her beloved husband in the south of France is threatened by a sinister figure from her distant past who unexpectedly turns up at their idyllic cliff-top villa. She had always believed him to have drowned, so is this mysterious stranger really who he says he is? Dating back to the turbulent days of the Paris student protests in 1968, the dramatic consequences of Grace’s involvement in an unlikely love triangle are revealed over the course of this suspenseful novel with plenty of unexpected plot twists along the way.
The Forgotten Summer
Set on a family-owned vineyard in the heart of Provence, the intriguing plot of this well-crafted novel revolves around a long-standing feud between Clarisse Cambon and her daughter-in-law Jane. When tragedy strikes and Jane is compelled to take over the management of the vineyard, she uncovers evidence of a long-held family secret which leads her to question everything she holds dear.
Carol Drinkwater’s exquisitely crafted descriptions bring her beloved adopted home of Provence vividly to life in this compelling “page-turning drama” which is “packed with the sunshine, scents and savours of the South of France” (Daily Mail).
An Act of Love
This “exciting, evocative and beautifully written” wartime novel (Daily Mail) tells the story of Sara, a 17-year-old Jewish refugee who, with her family, is compelled to escape the Nazis by fleeing from her native Poland for southern France. They find a temporary place of refuge in a remote mountainous village, where Sara falls in love for the first time with a handsome local boy named Alain.
When the Nazis tighten their grip on occupied France, her parents decide it is time to move again, but Sara makes the heartbreaking decision to remain with Alain and help the local resistance movement. As the war progresses, she finds herself separated from everyone she holds dear, leading her to question whether she will ever be reunited with her family and the man she loves.
The Olive Farm
In 1986, Carol Drinkwater and her then-new partner, Michel Noll, took the life-changing decision to purchase a disused 10-acre olive farm in Provence. This bestselling personal memoir chronicles the couple’s ambitious project, over many years, to restore the dilapidated property, along with its long-neglected ancient olive groves. Along the way, the couple marry and overcome a series of seemingly insurmountable personal and financial obstacles, whilst discovering the unique thrill of producing the finest quality extra-virgin olive oil from their own harvest.
As with her fiction, Drinkwater excels in transporting her reader to the south of France, capturing in “vibrant, intoxicating and heart-warming” detail (Sunday Express) the glorious landscape of this region, as well as the unique lifestyle of the people who call it their home.
Mapping the Heart
Set between France and Brazil, this suspenseful love story deals with an illicit passion that threatens to ruin the life of a successful woman who seemingly has it all.
Actress Eleanor McGuire appears to enjoy an idyllic lifestyle on the Cote d’Azur with her wealthy French film producer husband. Yet, behind the glamorous public façade, her marriage is falling apart and when, quite by chance, she encounters the man with whom she once enjoyed a brief passionate romance in Brazil, she takes the extraordinary decision to follow her heart and return to South America. She heads off for a new life in the heart of the tropical Brazilian rain forest, but an unexpected world of hidden dangers awaits her there.
Hotel Paradise
Whilst attending the Cannes Film Festival, award-winning songwriter Genevieve Bowles is invited to visit a newly refurbished hotel that occupies an idyllic setting on a nearby island.
Genevieve knows the Hotel Paradise only too well. In a series of flashbacks, the story returns to the point at which, 12 years previously, Genevieve answered an advertisement for live-in help at the hotel along with her then-partner, Paul. It seemed that the couple had found the perfect place in which to pursue their dreams. However, following the discovery of some surprisingly dark secrets from the island’s past, a mysterious newcomer arrived and unleashed a traumatic chain of events which have continued to haunt Genevieve to the present day.
A Simple Act of Kindness
In this 2016 novella, Carol Drinkwater’s perceptive portrayal of a coercive relationship is set against the backdrop of the glorious Provencal countryside which she describes in typically authentic detail.
Carole makes the life-changing decision to escape the constraints of her unhappy marriage with the domineering Paul, following a serious car accident for which he is responsible. She takes on a new identity and makes a fresh life for herself in rural southern France, but the happiness which she has worked so hard to achieve is threatened by the discovery that Paul is on her trail.
The Girl in Room Fourteen
Cecile Berri, the proprietor of a popular fruit stall in Cannes, is the central character of this charming novella. Renowned for the fine quality of her own homegrown lemons, the self-contained Cecile remains an enigmatic figure despite her many years as a seller at the resort’s Forville market. Even her own 16-year-old daughter remains unaware of a long-held secret relating to Cecile’s youthful romance with an enigmatic Italian stranger at a lemon festival many years ago, but the consequences of that brief passionate affair still resonate today.
The Love of a Stranger
When grief-stricken widow Susan Parks decides to leave her old London life behind, she makes a new beginning in the Mediterranean resort of Cannes. Here she meets the enigmatic Gustave and the pair become close, but she is not yet ready to form a new relationship. Only when Susan discovers more about Gustave’s own story of tragic loss is she increasingly drawn to him, leaving her to face the difficult question of whether it is time to try and love again.
Carol Drinkwater sensitively handles the subject of unexpected loss, followed by the conflicting emotions involved in forming a new relationship, in this thought-provoking novella.
