From Rocks to Riches: Roussillon, Time, Change and Ochre in a Village in Provence
by: Graham F. Pringle and Hildgund Schaefer

Softcover. Middlebury VT, Rural Society Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 212 pages, b&w illustrations. This is a very interesting and detailed read about the history of a French village; but not just any village, this is the famous Roussilion in Provence. It is famous because it has been built out of the red ochre that is found in the Roman quarries all around and under the cliffed village; ochre quarries which were re opened in 1785 and then declined after WW 2. The red coloured houses, of course, make the village very photogenic. The book tells the changing fortune of the village as it went from decline in 1945, to needing larger car parks for the tourist coaches after the 1960's. It is well written and gives a good indication of what a village needs to do to survive in today's world. Clean copy.