Florette

A 2018 New York Times and New York Public Library Best Illustrated Picture Book When Mae's family moves to a new home, she wishes she could bring her garden with her. She'll miss the apple trees, the daffodils, and chasing butterflies in the wavy grass. But there's no room for a garden in the city. Or is there? Mae's story, gorgeously illustrated in watercolor, is a celebration of friendship, resilience in the face of change, and the magic of the natural world.

She didn't want to find love... until he found her. Florette doesn't believe in love, especially the kind that involves magical beings with butterfly wings on their backs. She is content to sit in her cottage and finish her clients' ballgowns in time for the Fall Gatherings. But a stranger comes knocking on her door, and suddenly her convictions about romance and magic start to shatter. Blayze knows that he must find his bride from among the willing candidates of the Fall Gatherings, but a secret foray into Harowe convinces him that he's meant to marry the local seamstress. However, he soon learns that loving someone with as cautious a heart as Florette's is not so easy. Before the Fall Gatherings end, Blayze must convince Florette that their love is real, and she must find the courage to believe him.

Tells the story of Jean de Florette, a 35-year-old, city-bred, hunchbacked idealist, his wife, Aimee, and his daughter, Manon. In the second novel, Manon seeks revenge for her father's death, and it is she who brings the wheel full circle in a final dramatic retribution in the town square.

Pagnol's tragedy explores themes of sacrifice, selfishness and revenge in a Provencal village.