Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog

February 11, 2013
In his fourth travel memoir on France (Extremely Pale Rosé, etc.), Ivey paints a romantic portrait of the simple pleasures of Provence. With soaring prose, the author takes the reader on a journey through both major life changes and seemingly simple events, with the South of France as backdrop. From the birth of his daughter, to the acquisition of property and the striking up of friendship with a new truffle-hunting dog, Ivey elicits on the part of the reader an appetite for more of the small French province, known for its wines and cuisine. Sparked by his love of wine and need to escape the wired life of London, Ivey makes the trip to France to start a new adventure. Having lived in Provence as a permanent “foreigner,” Ivey is pleasantly surprised when a seemingly perfect plot of land comes up for grabs. What makes it so special is the abundance of truffles there. Written with a clear love for the Provencial lifestyle, this book is perfect for those interested in the South of France.

April 15, 2013

Newlyweds Jamie and Tanya Ivey, British expatriates who fell in love with southern France, relocated to Provence to undertake the adventurous and often both hilarious and frustrating task of starting a family, buying property, and building a home in a foreign country. Lawyer turned wine seller Ivey (La Vie en Rose A Very French Adventure Continues) is looking for local truffles--a purchase that demands the knowledge and expertise of an art bidder at Sotheby's--with his wife, Tanya, pregnant with their first child, when she goes into labor. When the new family fails to find a house, they instead buy land lined with oak trees that may be ripe with truffles. As they plan their house, a frustrating (though comical) fight with the French bureaucracy and contractors ensues. Meanwhile, the author sets out to train the family's new dog to sniff out truffles. Ivey's interactions with local officials, builders, neighbors, and truffle hunters are as colorful for the reader as they are trying for him. VERDICT Ivey, in his fourth book about southern France, captures the flavor of Provence, expatriatism, house building, fatherhood, dog training, and truffle hunting with humor and delight.--Melinda Stivers Leach, Wondervu, CO

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2013
Delectable account of how an ex-lawyer took up truffle hunting in Provence after fleeing the drudgery of an office job in England. Ivey and his wife left London "determined to experience a better quality of life" in rural France. Together, they built a wine business and dreamed of the seemingly impossible: owning a home in a place where only rich Parisians and celebrities like "Brad and Angelina" could even consider buying property. After a real estate agent showed them an affordable piece of land that came with its own oak tree truffle patch, the couple knew they had come home at last. The cat-loving Ivey then began his search for a "hypoallergenic" canine that he could train to be a champion truffle sniffer and good family pet. That quest led him to Snuffle, a petit chien lion puppy that his wife was convinced looked more like a rug than a dog. As Ivey and his equally cat-loving wife began to adjust to life as canine owners, they faced a string of house-building challenges, from financing to construction, since both were outsiders to the closed world of the Provencaux. Even Snuffle seemed reluctant to cooperate when his master began training him to become a truffle dog. The more Ivey became involved in the hunt for "black diamonds," the more he bore witness to the back-stabbing, secretive and sometimes even deadly world of trufficulture. Despite the many frustrations and frequent encounters with sometimes-bewildering behaviors and customs, Ivey and his wife both emerged wiser about human nature and happily endowed with a home and truffles to spare. Good fun for gastronomists and travel buffs alike.

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April 15, 2013
Provenals let very little stand between them and their favorite comestible: the truffle. Let the price rise to 1,000 per kilo, and they may break out their shotguns to defend their truffle-laden terroir, but they never stop consuming the ultra-aromatic fungus. Wine dealer Ivey, a transplant from Britain to southern France, has fallen in love with truffles, and he sets out to buy his own slice of earth bearing the coveted oak trees whose roots hide the black diamonds. Even the demands of a toddler underfoot don't dissuade him from a real estate deal that requires the building of a new house and the acquisition of a truffle dog, in this case the rare breed, petit chien lion (little lion dog), whose puppyhood exhausts the family's patience, even as he is being trained to sniff out the elusive truffle. Both lovers of Provence and fans of dog stories will find plenty to savor in these pages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)