Provence, 1938.





Seventeen-year-old Yvette Barbarin lives on a small rural farm in the lavender-soaked hills behind the great port-city of Marseille with her widowed father and her five younger sisters.





When she learns that her father is planning to marry her off to a local farmer, she runs away to the city where she dreams of joining a troupe of travelling players.





In Marseille, Yvette is bowled over by the magic of cinema, and the thrill of make-believe. She falls in love with an actor, a rising star, but all is not as simple in real life as it is in the world of movies, and war is coming.



Carol Drinkwater is a multi-award-winning actress and writer, best known for her portrayal of Helen Herriot in the classic BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small. She is the author of twenty-five books, both fiction and non-fiction and including the bestselling Olive Farm memoir series set in the south of France. Her latest TV work is a six-part travel/lifestyle programme commissioned by UK's Channel 5, Carol Drinkwater's Secret Provence. Carol lives with her husband in France.