Author(s): Michael Morpurgo, M. B. E.

Middle Fiction 8-12-year-olds

When Yannick learns that he is to stay with his Aunt Mathilde in the South of France, he cannot believe his luck. If the paintings of his mother's beloved Cezanne are to be believed, surely Provence is paradise itself. So begins an idyllic month for the young boy. Then one evening the idyll is spoilt when an important local comes for dinner and Yannick accidentally destroys a precious drawing the man leaves behind. He could never have imagined that his mother's hero, the world-famous Cezanne, would come to his inn, and sit at one of his tables Yannick is devastated by what he has done, and resolves to make things right. But in so doing he makes a surprising discovery."