Bestseller author Peter Mayle (78) died

london - His novels and travel stories from Provence made him world famous: the British bestselling author Peter Mayle is dead. Mayle died on Thursday at the age of 78 after a brief illness in a Southern French hospital, publisher Alfred A. Knopf reported on Twitter.

His book 'A Year In Provence' has been translated into dozens of languages ​​and sold millions of copies. The book was also translated into Dutch. Among his other great successes was the novel 'Hotel Pastis', which deals with a love story in a midlife crisis. Mayle initially worked in the advertising world before he started to dedicate himself to writing.

More than 30 years ago, the author left his homeland and moved to sunny Provence. The success also had its price, however, because in his first works he had described his place of residence in the holiday region: groups of tourists from Australia, Japan, Germany and other countries made pilgrimages to his house and even swam in his pool.

It became too much for him and his wife, and they temporarily fled to the United States. For a long time they did not keep it there. They returned to Provence and looked for another house, but this time the address was kept secret by Mayle.