Stanislas Yassukovich is an investment banker who spent some 20 years visiting and living with his family in the Luberon, the region of France made famous by the late Peter Mayle's seminal work, A Year in Provence. In his new book, Yassukovich chronicles his experiences, impressions and adventures in this unique corner of La Belle France, together with reminiscences of the fascinating and cosmopolitan characters who reside there permanently or part time. His anecdotal evocation of the great variety of elements that make this region one of the most sought after, in a country rich in holiday destinations, will entertain both those who know the area and those who don't yet. Malika Moine is a Provençal artist who has published several books of her water colours in Marseille. Her illustrations of the villages of the Luberon make the book, and the region, even more irresistible.
Stanislas Yassukovich was born in Paris of a White Russian émigré father and a French mother. Settling in the United States at the outset of World War II, he was brought up on the North Shore of Long Island, N.Y., attending Green Vale School there, Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, and Harvard College. After service in the U.S Marine Corps, he joined White, Weld & Co., New York investment bankers and was posted to its London office. Yassukovich subsequently formed and managed European Banking Company, became a Deputy Chairman of The Stock Exchange, London, Chairman of the Securities & Futures Authority, and, finally, Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East & Africa. After service as a non-executive director on various boards, he retired to the South of France. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is married to the former Diana Townsend, and has three children: Tatyana, Michael and Nicholas.
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I greatly enjoyed Lives of the Luberon. I like your self-effacing observations and breezy style. And I learnt a lot. Not least, your book refreshes many pleasant memories of my own, and as you can imagine, there is considerable overlap in the persons and local peculiarities you mention and those we knew. In the Luberon…even more than at our later base in the Bouches du Rhone…the first two dinner parties one attends introduce 80% of those who one would see at every gathering thereafter. No wonder hosts were so well-disposed to being asked if one could bring along a house guest or two. They were desperate for new blood. You refer to Aptunion and the candied cherries they produced (and exported largely to the UK as an indispensable ingredient of Dundee and other dense fruitcakes). I spent many days at the Ciprian plant by the roundabout approaching Apt, acting on behalf of the French company, Medial, in selling that business of theirs to the Kerry Group. It was the first and only time that I managed to develop a piece of business which obliged me to enplane regularly on weekdays for a vacation home in the sun. Needless to say, meetings were scheduled on Mondays or Fridays…and I encountered no resistance to that scheduling from my Irish client.
In many ways, the Luberon is the negative image of Ireland: wet rendered as dry and lush green as scorched rocky. They were fascinated and enjoyed coming. Regards and well done!
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