This is the funniest book I've read in ages. It made me laugh out loud so often, I had to stop reading it on the subway for fear of embarrassing myself in public. Jane S. Smith brilliantly lampoons the pseudo-academic and -artistic Americans who flock to Provence in search of career-making inspiration, and the natives who prey on them. But she also has a deep affection for her characters (well, most of them, anyway) that makes this book a thoroughly satisfying novel, not just a chilly satire. She skillfully interweaves the actions of a large cast of characters, and brings them all together at the end in a conclusion worthy of a Victorian novelist. Even the title is clever, in retrospect. It's hard to believe this is a first novel. Please, Ms. Smith -- may we have some more?

I would have put it in the academic satire category but strictly speaking it doesn't belong there because the only character to hold a college teaching job gets fired on the first page (two characters go back to graduate school on the last page). Then she goes off to the South of France with her family to write a book. Her children discover a pre-Roman Celtic treasure. Her daughter gets abducted by a child molester. Her husband enters a bicycle race.
It is brilliantly witty about such subjects as eco-feminism and intellectual francophilia but alo carried along by a strong intriguing plot. Wonderful light but intelligent enertainment.

I wish I had written this book. Fool's Gold is one of the best contemporary novels that I have read. It describes the extremely realistic (or were they) adventures of a NYC family who attempt to rediscover themselves in the South of France by renting a villa that turns out to be right next to a major highway. The chain of events that are described in this witty, funny novel seem totally plausible but tend to point out that our fantasies are never really as exciting as our realities. Don't forget to ponder the last sentence in the book. It will keep you smiling for days. A perfect read.