Escape to the French Farmhouse: The #1 Kindle Bestseller

Jo Thomas

May 2020 · Random House

About this eBook

'You smell the lavender, you feel the sun on your face, this book is pure joy!' Katie Fforde

'Uplifting and full of warmth, this novel is the next best thing to jetting off to France on a relaxing break away.' My Weekly

Can Del find her recipe for happiness?

Del and her husband Ollie moved to a beautiful village in Provence for a fresh start after years of infertility struggles. But six weeks after they arrive, they’re packing the removal van once more. As Del watches the van leave for England, she suddenly realises exactly what will make her happier...a new life in France – without Ollie.

Now alone, all Del has is a crumbling farmhouse, a mortgage to pay and a few lavender plants. What on earth is she going to do? After discovering an old recipe book at the market run by the rather attractive Fabian, Del starts to bake. But can her new-found passion really help her let go of the past and lead to true happiness?

A heart-warming tale about reclaiming your life, set amongst the lavender fields of Provence. Perfect escapism from the author of Late Summer in the Vineyard and The Honey Farm on the Hill.

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Readers are falling in love with Escape to the French Farmhouse
‘It’s simply amazing . . . has you hooked and makes you feel are in the sunshine in France.’
‘A refreshing, feel-good story, just perfect for sitting and reading in the sun.’
‘A love story at its best. You can smell the lavender.’

Ratings and reviews

I'm torn by this novel, the grumpy cynical side of me says this is a typical rose-coloured glasses view of living in a foreign country where the locals are only too happy to help out a complete stranger, just because they smile and attempt to speak the language. Even the attempts at showing that not everything is picturesque is done in a soft-focus way. And yet the other half of me, the one that wells up when she sees a 99 year old man walking round his garden to raise money for the National Health Service, tells the cynical side to back off bi-yatch because we loved this. The chance to start a new life, albeit at the eleventh hour, in rural Provence, France against a backdrop of lavender (even though I can't stand the smell of the stuff) comes to Della just as she realises her marriage to Ollie is over. As he returns to the UK, as so many expats do after only a short time, Del chooses to stay. Del and Ollie's life in Provence had been about eating at the fancy bistro and meeting the other expats in the pub for a quiz night, it had nothing about becoming part of the local community. On her own Del quickly makes friends with a young man at the local brocante (half junk shop, half antiques shop, half flea market - hey, I'm an accountant I can make numbers do whatever I want), the local estate agent and a local restauranteur and her mission to find a new career to pay the mortgage on the crumbling French farmhouse they bought leads her to start baking biscuits and cakes infused with the local lavender. This was feel-good stuff, the sort of novel where everyone is friendly and helpful, the only nasty people are the British expats who don't see the irony of trying to push people out 'who don't belong' in their idealised version of Provence. The descriptions of the food that Del bakes are really mouth-watering (despite the addition of lavender) and I am only sorry that the ARC did not have the nine pages of recipes which are promised for the final book. Overall, if you are looking for an escapist romance where the sun always shines and you change your life on a whim this is definitely the novel for you. It's warm, gentle, life-affirming and just the sort of thing to read on the beach (or in lockdown) or even on a cold winter's day when the idea of sunshine and warmth seems a distant memory. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Escapism at its best.

About the author

Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, including time at Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Radio 2's The Steve Wright Show.


Jo's debut novel, The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller and won both the RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the Festival of Romance Best eBook Award. Her book Escape to the French Farmhouse was a #1 bestselling eBook. Jo loves to explore new countries and discover the food produced there, both of which she thoroughly enjoys researching. Jo lives in Pembrokeshire with her husband and three children, where cooking and gathering around the kitchen table are a hugely important and fun part of their family life.