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The Light Behind the Window
The present
Emilie de la Martiniéres has always fought against her aristocratic background, but after the death of her glamorous, distant mother, she finds herself alone in the world and sole inheritor of her grand childhood home in the south of France. An old notebook of poems leads her in search of the mysterious and beautiful Sophia, whose tragic love affair changed the course of her family history. As Emilie unravels the story, she too embarks on her own journey of discovery, realising that the château may provide clues to her own difficult past and finally unlock the future.
The past
London 1943. A young office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is drafted into the SOE, arriving in occupied Paris during the climax of the conflict. Separated from her contact in her very first hours in France, she stumbles into the heart of a wealthy family who are caught up in a deadly game of secrets and lies. Forced to surrender her identity and all ties to her homeland and her beloved husband, Constance finds herself drawn into a complex web of deception, the repercussions of which will affect generations to come.
From the author of the international bestseller, Hothouse Flower, Lucinda Riley’s new novel is a breathtaking and intense story of love, war and, above all, forgiveness.
Emilie de la Martiniéres has always fought against her aristocratic background, but after the death of her glamorous, distant mother, she finds herself alone in the world and sole inheritor of her grand childhood home in the south of France. An old notebook of poems leads her in search of the mysterious and beautiful Sophia, whose tragic love affair changed the course of her family history. As Emilie unravels the story, she too embarks on her own journey of discovery, realising that the château may provide clues to her own difficult past and finally unlock the future.
The past
London 1943. A young office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is drafted into the SOE, arriving in occupied Paris during the climax of the conflict. Separated from her contact in her very first hours in France, she stumbles into the heart of a wealthy family who are caught up in a deadly game of secrets and lies. Forced to surrender her identity and all ties to her homeland and her beloved husband, Constance finds herself drawn into a complex web of deception, the repercussions of which will affect generations to come.
From the author of the international bestseller, Hothouse Flower, Lucinda Riley’s new novel is a breathtaking and intense story of love, war and, above all, forgiveness.
544 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2012
2483 people are currently reading
22147 people want to read
About the author
Lucinda Riley
167 books12.1k followersAKA: Lucinda Edmonds
Lucinda Riley was born in Northern Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold thirty million copies worldwide. She is a No.1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.
Lucinda’s The Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster, has become a global phenomenon. The series is a No.1 bestseller across the world with total sales of over fifteen million copies.
Lucinda and her family divided their time between the U.K. and a farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, where she wrote her books.
Lucinda Riley was born in Northern Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold thirty million copies worldwide. She is a No.1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.
Lucinda’s The Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster, has become a global phenomenon. The series is a No.1 bestseller across the world with total sales of over fifteen million copies.
Lucinda and her family divided their time between the U.K. and a farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, where she wrote her books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,301 reviews
April 23, 2018
Hat mir bisher am Besten von der Autorin gefallen !
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September 25, 2012If I can't give a book an honest 3 stars, it hasn't worked for me. I don't rate them 1 or 2 because I personally think this gives people a false picture, but I do try and explain. So it was with this on.
The Light Behind the Window was the kind of book I like. Two stories linked, two timescales, and a bit of war - in this case, WWII. The thing is, I read it very quickly, and it's not a short book, but it was sort of a couldn't-put-down book. The problem was that the reason I couldn't put it down was not really because I wanted to know what would happen, it was to find out whether what I was right in what I predicted would happen right from the start. And sadly, in almost every aspect of the plot, I was right.
And this is what was at the heart of what didn't work for me. This book was simply way too predictable. It had so many coincidences and connections it was worthy of Dickens, and though some of them weren't way off, they felt it. Instead of that nice feeling you get when a plot turns a corner and all is revealed, what I felt was right, told you so.
But predictability of plot can be okay if you are interested in the characters. Which was my second issue. In particulare Emilie, the main protagonist in the modern-day story, drove me mad. She is the daughter of an aristocratic family, whose socialite mother was totally uninterested in her. The mother dies at the start and Emilie, who has 'rebelled' by abandoning the social life and becoming a vet, is left with a huge chateau on her hands. You'd think someone who has worked hard enough and single-mindedly enough to have such a career would have a bit of gumption, but Emilie seemed to me to have absolutely none. She dithers and she swithers. When her mother's dog is run over, she actually has to consult another vet! She seems to think she can only practice in Paris, and that any move to any other part or France or any other country must mean she gives up her career (the one she's worked so hard to succeed at) and frankly, when she met her Nemesis (and anyone but Emilie would have known right from the start that's what he was) I thought she deserved all she got.
There were lots of sub-plots in this book I'd have liked under other circumstances, but I just couldn't get past Emilie. Yet, as I said at the start, I didn't put it down either. Which means it must have pulling power. So maybe it's just me.
The Light Behind the Window was the kind of book I like. Two stories linked, two timescales, and a bit of war - in this case, WWII. The thing is, I read it very quickly, and it's not a short book, but it was sort of a couldn't-put-down book. The problem was that the reason I couldn't put it down was not really because I wanted to know what would happen, it was to find out whether what I was right in what I predicted would happen right from the start. And sadly, in almost every aspect of the plot, I was right.
And this is what was at the heart of what didn't work for me. This book was simply way too predictable. It had so many coincidences and connections it was worthy of Dickens, and though some of them weren't way off, they felt it. Instead of that nice feeling you get when a plot turns a corner and all is revealed, what I felt was right, told you so.
But predictability of plot can be okay if you are interested in the characters. Which was my second issue. In particulare Emilie, the main protagonist in the modern-day story, drove me mad. She is the daughter of an aristocratic family, whose socialite mother was totally uninterested in her. The mother dies at the start and Emilie, who has 'rebelled' by abandoning the social life and becoming a vet, is left with a huge chateau on her hands. You'd think someone who has worked hard enough and single-mindedly enough to have such a career would have a bit of gumption, but Emilie seemed to me to have absolutely none. She dithers and she swithers. When her mother's dog is run over, she actually has to consult another vet! She seems to think she can only practice in Paris, and that any move to any other part or France or any other country must mean she gives up her career (the one she's worked so hard to succeed at) and frankly, when she met her Nemesis (and anyone but Emilie would have known right from the start that's what he was) I thought she deserved all she got.
There were lots of sub-plots in this book I'd have liked under other circumstances, but I just couldn't get past Emilie. Yet, as I said at the start, I didn't put it down either. Which means it must have pulling power. So maybe it's just me.
September 12, 2013
I loved this novel... the ending was a little too "neat" but it still gets a 5 star rating from me!!! This reminded me so much of a Kate Morton novel!!! Again fantastic simply fantastic!!!
March 11, 2023
The Light Behind the Window by Lucinda Riley is great historical fiction. I have enjoyed reading. It is a tender and spicy story about two generations that twist the plot making this book a page-turner for me.
April 21, 2014
This book sounded so promising but it was rather disappointing and bland. The plot was okay, but very slow-moving at times and the ending was very predictable to me. My biggest issue was the unnecessary time the author spent on 'pleasant' conversations; i'm sure if someone checked which words were the most used one's in this book, 'thank you' would win. All the characters talk and interact with each other but in reality they're not saying anything. It felt like I read the same conversation over and over again, there was no differentiating between characters; they all seem to posses the same speech pattern and the same way of articulation, even a 13 year old compared with an 80+ year old. You can barely see any sort of personality except for a few traits and even with those the authors seems to feel the need to divide the characters either into 'bad' or 'good'. The good one's seem to have no fault and the bad one's have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, which makes it hard to take the characters seriously, considering people just aren't like that.
The characters don't seem to react to certain things like normal people would. [spoilers ahead] When Emilie paints the room yellow and Alex provokes her a bit, she runs away, locks herself away in her room, cries and labels him 'Monster', yet when she finds out that Sebastian has been betraying her all along, she barely reacts to it. Same with the boy, his mother dies but he is basically only caring about moving in with Emilie and a year later he seems to be perfectly okay. Or Connie not reacting to being raped at all, she just brushes it aside. Or the fact that Sophia died, she seemed pretty indifferent to it for the most part. They just don't come across as genuine characters.
This book is over 500 pages long with at least 2/3 of it being waste that doesn't serve to move the plot along, yet the ending was completely rushed. Very poorly executed, in my opinion.
The characters don't seem to react to certain things like normal people would. [spoilers ahead] When Emilie paints the room yellow and Alex provokes her a bit, she runs away, locks herself away in her room, cries and labels him 'Monster', yet when she finds out that Sebastian has been betraying her all along, she barely reacts to it. Same with the boy, his mother dies but he is basically only caring about moving in with Emilie and a year later he seems to be perfectly okay. Or Connie not reacting to being raped at all, she just brushes it aside. Or the fact that Sophia died, she seemed pretty indifferent to it for the most part. They just don't come across as genuine characters.
This book is over 500 pages long with at least 2/3 of it being waste that doesn't serve to move the plot along, yet the ending was completely rushed. Very poorly executed, in my opinion.
May 15, 2023
I don't understand why so many people seem to want to write books about women in SOE that in fact aren't about what women in SOE did. Or at least, I thought this would be about a woman in SOE (along with a related story set in the more or less present day), but apparently it wanted to be a soapy drama. Which could have been okay, except that it was so clunky and flat.
I know this is fiction and heaven knows I am not a very big fan of "gritty" realism, but there does have to be some detail to evoke a sense of reality and place. I can't find any of that here. The author tosses in a few names of some actual people from SOE, but that's where it stops.
Did you know that in France, coffee was available throughout the entirety of WW2? You didn't, really? Of course you didn't, because that is most amateur mistake I've ever seen. "But, Idril," you say, "Edouard was rich and bought things on the black market." Okay, fine; that doesn't really work because the black market wasn't just a place you could swan into and pick up whatever you liked, so even then there would still be shortages and I imagine you'd want to save what you did find for the dangerous Nazis who think you are on their side and need to be pampered, but fine. However, in this book everyone has coffee. Wander into a cafe in occupied Paris, grab some coffee; stop at a rural train station, sip some coffee; hide in a basement and warm up with some coffee!
"Idril," you say, "I think you need to calm down."
You may be right. It's only coffee. So let's also talk about forged identity papers. Based on this book I'd assume 90% of citizens in France during the war had forged papers. Need new papers? Your local aristocrat can have them whipped up overnight! Don't know any aristocrats? Head to the nearest cottage; the peasantry can meet the same deadline for half the price! (I am assuming on the price thing; money is never mentioned and it's never hard for anyone to obtain anything in this book.)
Air raids are boring to sit through apparently but don't damage anything, apparently, and travel is smellier but apparently everyone does it. Cousins from Vichy France apparently head to Paris for holidays without any difficulty.
Constance is (supposedly) trained by SOE but as soon as she gets to France she can't be involved with SOE contacts in any way. Or do anything. Except drink coffee.
If you don't care what life was like in wartime France, the hardships and dangers, why bother to set your story there? With one exception nothing really difficult happens to these ridiculous characters. And they are so ridiculous. They do nothing and then talk to each other about how brave they all are.
As for the modern part of the novel, "naive woman falls for charming man, whom the reader suspects is bad news" could be an interesting story. But in this, Sebastian is so obviously full of shit and so bland, and Emilie is so bland and seems so stupid for falling for it, that I just felt bored waiting for the inevitable revelation. And here again was a total lack of challenge for the characters: the first chapter tells us Emilie's mother spent all the family fortune and who knows what will happen to the family chateau and sacre bleu! Oh, but, just sell the town house and some jewelry and you're not only set for life but can carry out expensive renovations and write your husband checks for multiple tens of thousands of pounds without blinking.
And the husband:
But the crowning idiocy is at the convergence of the two stories:
I mean, I gave it two stars because I did read the whole thing (for some unknown reason). I feel like lately I've been writing only flippantly dismissive reviews of books I suffered through, which is getting tiresome. I'd really like to read something I enjoy. This was not it.
As a final note, my favorite part was the actual Big No set out ridiculously in type.
I know this is fiction and heaven knows I am not a very big fan of "gritty" realism, but there does have to be some detail to evoke a sense of reality and place. I can't find any of that here. The author tosses in a few names of some actual people from SOE, but that's where it stops.
Did you know that in France, coffee was available throughout the entirety of WW2? You didn't, really? Of course you didn't, because that is most amateur mistake I've ever seen. "But, Idril," you say, "Edouard was rich and bought things on the black market." Okay, fine; that doesn't really work because the black market wasn't just a place you could swan into and pick up whatever you liked, so even then there would still be shortages and I imagine you'd want to save what you did find for the dangerous Nazis who think you are on their side and need to be pampered, but fine. However, in this book everyone has coffee. Wander into a cafe in occupied Paris, grab some coffee; stop at a rural train station, sip some coffee; hide in a basement and warm up with some coffee!
"Idril," you say, "I think you need to calm down."
You may be right. It's only coffee. So let's also talk about forged identity papers. Based on this book I'd assume 90% of citizens in France during the war had forged papers. Need new papers? Your local aristocrat can have them whipped up overnight! Don't know any aristocrats? Head to the nearest cottage; the peasantry can meet the same deadline for half the price! (I am assuming on the price thing; money is never mentioned and it's never hard for anyone to obtain anything in this book.)
Air raids are boring to sit through apparently but don't damage anything, apparently, and travel is smellier but apparently everyone does it. Cousins from Vichy France apparently head to Paris for holidays without any difficulty.
Constance is (supposedly) trained by SOE but as soon as she gets to France she can't be involved with SOE contacts in any way. Or do anything. Except drink coffee.
If you don't care what life was like in wartime France, the hardships and dangers, why bother to set your story there? With one exception nothing really difficult happens to these ridiculous characters. And they are so ridiculous. They do nothing and then talk to each other about how brave they all are.
As for the modern part of the novel, "naive woman falls for charming man, whom the reader suspects is bad news" could be an interesting story. But in this, Sebastian is so obviously full of shit and so bland, and Emilie is so bland and seems so stupid for falling for it, that I just felt bored waiting for the inevitable revelation. And here again was a total lack of challenge for the characters: the first chapter tells us Emilie's mother spent all the family fortune and who knows what will happen to the family chateau and sacre bleu! Oh, but, just sell the town house and some jewelry and you're not only set for life but can carry out expensive renovations and write your husband checks for multiple tens of thousands of pounds without blinking.
And the husband:
But the crowning idiocy is at the convergence of the two stories:
I mean, I gave it two stars because I did read the whole thing (for some unknown reason). I feel like lately I've been writing only flippantly dismissive reviews of books I suffered through, which is getting tiresome. I'd really like to read something I enjoy. This was not it.
As a final note, my favorite part was the actual Big No set out ridiculously in type.
January 3, 2014
Oooof. This book had great potential and an interesting story line, but needed an editor so badly. I found myself spending half the book wanting to break out my copy-editing tools and delete much of the pointless dialogue and descriptions.
July 2, 2013
Castles, hidden rooms, families, World War II, and history coming alive as past and present blend together for an incredible, marvelously detailed read.
Emilie de la Martinieres is the sole surviving member of her family and is left with a chateau with vineyards and another home in Paris. Both homes are filled with memories and contents worth millions. But, the millions won't be Emile's because of the debt her mother mounted over the years. Emilie needs to decide if she should sell or keep the chateau. She never had to deal with finances and was doing it alone until a complete stranger, Sebastian, came on the scene.
Sebastian's family had some connection to Emilie's chateau and vineyard, and the winemakers on the estate knew what that connection was. The account of the important family connection is revealed through Constance's life during WWII and her connection to the de la Martinieries' family. But, did Sebastian suddenly appear and help Emilie because of the family connection or because he was interested in the valuable paintings inside her estates and most of all her family inheritance?
THE LAVENDER GARDEN moves back and forth from current day to WWII making a beautiful story even more enticing. The WWII details were fascinating and very well researched.
The detailed descriptions of the castle, the French society during WWII, the hint of mystery about the de la Martinieries' history, and the current-day love story make this book another amazing, mesmerizing, and fantastic Lucinda Riley novel.
THE LAVENDER GARDEN had wonderful characters that were believable as well as characters that you would want to share a day with. Being in a beautiful chateau with a vineyard, being in Paris and a small French village, being in an English castle, and being with characters you definitely will bond with made the book even more appealing.
This is by far my favorite Lucinda Riley book. I loved her detail about the French and English countryside and absolutely loved the specifics of the ancestry of Emilee's family. Digging into a family's history is my favorite historical thing to do. The ending is wonderful.
I hope you get to read it. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.
Emilie de la Martinieres is the sole surviving member of her family and is left with a chateau with vineyards and another home in Paris. Both homes are filled with memories and contents worth millions. But, the millions won't be Emile's because of the debt her mother mounted over the years. Emilie needs to decide if she should sell or keep the chateau. She never had to deal with finances and was doing it alone until a complete stranger, Sebastian, came on the scene.
Sebastian's family had some connection to Emilie's chateau and vineyard, and the winemakers on the estate knew what that connection was. The account of the important family connection is revealed through Constance's life during WWII and her connection to the de la Martinieries' family. But, did Sebastian suddenly appear and help Emilie because of the family connection or because he was interested in the valuable paintings inside her estates and most of all her family inheritance?
THE LAVENDER GARDEN moves back and forth from current day to WWII making a beautiful story even more enticing. The WWII details were fascinating and very well researched.
The detailed descriptions of the castle, the French society during WWII, the hint of mystery about the de la Martinieries' history, and the current-day love story make this book another amazing, mesmerizing, and fantastic Lucinda Riley novel.
THE LAVENDER GARDEN had wonderful characters that were believable as well as characters that you would want to share a day with. Being in a beautiful chateau with a vineyard, being in Paris and a small French village, being in an English castle, and being with characters you definitely will bond with made the book even more appealing.
This is by far my favorite Lucinda Riley book. I loved her detail about the French and English countryside and absolutely loved the specifics of the ancestry of Emilee's family. Digging into a family's history is my favorite historical thing to do. The ending is wonderful.
I hope you get to read it. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.
July 29, 2016
This is my third Lucinda Riley book. The Girl on the Cliff was a big hit, but The Orchid House was a meandering miss, and after the first few chapters I thought The Light Behind The Window would be heading for another miss too. It has a very slow and simplistic beginning, including my dialogue dislike of over-using names even when only two people are talking to each other. Argh. However, when the 'story proper' finally kicked in I became hooked despite my niggles.
In present day France, Emilie inherits her parents' old crumbling château. She meets Englishman Sebastian who says that his grandmother, Constance, knew her father, Edouard, during WW2. We then travel back to war-torn London where Connie is enrolled as a Special Operations Executive and dropped into occupied France to assist the Allies and the Resistance. Things don't go according to plan, and she instead finds herself caught up in liberator Edouard's dangerous game of deception involving his beautiful sister Sophia and a pair of high ranking German officer brothers.
The incredible bravery of the SOE, the Resistance and the ordinary French men and women is movingly told; I'm a Brit used to war stories told from home soil and am ashamed to say how little I know about day to day occupied France. That's not to say this is a gritty war book though, far from it. There are some tense moments, but they're dealt with 'nicely' with only hints of the horrors that happen off-screen. The main body of this book is how the long-lost secrets of the past affect the future generations.
As with most dual-timeline books, the present-day story wasn't a patch on the past, but the bittersweet wartime story of loyalty and sacrifice more than made up for any shortcomings with its many twists and turns (just when you think you have it all figured out....) and an emotional ending which had me reaching for the tissues. Not a complete hit, but still a very decent read.
In present day France, Emilie inherits her parents' old crumbling château. She meets Englishman Sebastian who says that his grandmother, Constance, knew her father, Edouard, during WW2. We then travel back to war-torn London where Connie is enrolled as a Special Operations Executive and dropped into occupied France to assist the Allies and the Resistance. Things don't go according to plan, and she instead finds herself caught up in liberator Edouard's dangerous game of deception involving his beautiful sister Sophia and a pair of high ranking German officer brothers.
The incredible bravery of the SOE, the Resistance and the ordinary French men and women is movingly told; I'm a Brit used to war stories told from home soil and am ashamed to say how little I know about day to day occupied France. That's not to say this is a gritty war book though, far from it. There are some tense moments, but they're dealt with 'nicely' with only hints of the horrors that happen off-screen. The main body of this book is how the long-lost secrets of the past affect the future generations.
As with most dual-timeline books, the present-day story wasn't a patch on the past, but the bittersweet wartime story of loyalty and sacrifice more than made up for any shortcomings with its many twists and turns (just when you think you have it all figured out....) and an emotional ending which had me reaching for the tissues. Not a complete hit, but still a very decent read.
August 28, 2016
Wäre Emilie nicht eine ganze Zeit lang so blind und naiv gewesen, hätte es 5 Sterne verdient. Tolle Geschichte, sehr komplex und rührend. Besonders herausragendes Setting und ein niveauvoller Sprachstil
August 1, 2017
Odlična priča, prekrasni pejzaži, lagano, čitko...ma prava knjiga za opuštanje!
March 9, 2024
Eu vreau să spun că această carte este un tezaur literar care îți inundă fiecare moleculă cu sentimente, cu emoția și splendoarea ei! Lucinda Riley îți hrănește atât imaginația cât și intelectul prin felul unic și uluitor în care a reușit să realizeze acest roman.
Povestea este genială... solidă, învăluită atât de realism (inspirația ficțiunii avându-și bazele în istoria marcantă a omenirii), cât și de sentimente pure, pe care eu, ca și cititor, nu le-am mai regăsit de multe apusuri încoace! Firul epic foarte lucid, dar presărat cu taine care fac inima cititorului să bată atât de tare pentru același scop ca al eroilor cărții, te atrag și te învăluie în această poveste incredibilă, reușind, de multe ori, să te transforme într-un observator contemporan cu personajele și să te contopească cu acest paradis literar. Felul în care se dezvăluie fiecare părticică de poveste, rând pe rând, îți antrenează mintea și conștiința într-un mod aparte, și, în același timp... te mistuie modul în care năvălește fraternitatea peste tine.
Personajele sunt atât de bine construite, încât, după cum spuneam, ai impresia că le-ai cunoscut cândva, că ai povestit cu ele, că ai trăit alături de ele și că ți s-au destăinuit chiar ție (sau poate și tu lor)! Sunt chiar, de multe ori, mai umane decât oamenii și mai asumate decât cei care au privilegiul de a trăi cu adevărat în această lume! Ele sunt un tribut extraordinar de veridic adus de către autoare rădăcinilor sufletești care au inspirat aceste portrete literare uimitoare, zămislind cu stoicism faptele vitejești ce au restaurat libertatea mult așteptată! Precum, de altfel, a arătat-o și istoria, efectele dezastruoase ale războiului și-a pus amprenta asupra tuturor care au fost nevoiți să-i țină piept, unii au dus războiul mai departe cu ei, rămânând captivi acestei catastrofe, însă alții au reușit să îmbrățișeze libertatea și să o ducă mai departe și altora!
O aventură sentimentală în care, după multe cumpene, în final, ”privilegiații” sperau că ”descoperiseră împreună fericirea, împlinirea și liniștea” ca un trofeu restituit după multe generații în care aceste trei comori (menționate în citat) au fost devorate de masacrul războiului (atât fizic, cât și sufletește). Fiecare personaj a primit grija pe care o poartă pictorul artist fiecărui detaliu din tablou, aparent nesemnificativ pentru ochii laicilor (nu e de mirare că a reușit să mă cucerească un personaj secundar, chiar episodic, dar, care a adus atât de mult suflu și intensitate poveștii - lucru care nu mi s-a mai întâmplat până acum, în acest mod, decât în cazul personajelor centrale). Riley nu te lasă să ratezi niciun detaliu, te ajută atât de mult să vezi totul clar și lucid!
O carte care mi-a intrat ireversibil în inimă și s-a așezat pentru totdeauna în biblioteca sufletului meu! Feeria scriiturii m-a captat pe deplin! Cu toate acestea, aș da orice să o mai pot citi încă o dată precum ar fi prima dată (știu că mulți am mai face acest lucru cu romanele noastre preferate)! Îi sunt recunoscătoare Lucindei Riley pentru darul ei literar (în primul rând fiindcă m-a scos din reading slump :D), cu atât mai mult pentru o avalanșă de sentimente, un melanj de emoții profunde și sincere care m-au învăluit în timpul lecturii, această carte a fost și prima care m-a făcut să plâng la ”Mulțumiri” (după o poveste încărcată de smerenie, onoare și caractere puternice, Riley m-a impresionat cu nota de final, când a transferat emoția din fictiv în real - am ales să nu dau niciun spoiler, e mai bine așa!:) - să vă lăsați surprinși de căldura acestei smerenii). A știut atât de bine să scoată tot ceea ce e mai valoros din imaginația ei și a plantat semințele frumosului în inima cititorilor!
Cartea este o prețioasă pildă pentru viață (deși este ficțiune istorică, ar fi profund îndrăgită de simpatizanții lecturilor de dezvoltare personală, deoarece i-ar surprinde modul profund în care pot învăța lecții importante pe parcursul parcurgerii ei - lecții care le vor rămâne fidele mereu)! Menirea sau scopul primordial al cărții este, atât laitmotivul de a alege ”din ce tabără faci parte”, cât și evidențierea modului în care reflectorul strălucește mereu mai tare asupra părților bune din oameni (în ciuda faptului că viața cotidiană arată aparent altfel, însă numai aparent), o dată prin ”butterfly effect”, dar și felul în care sunt puse în anti-teză, nu oamenii buni sau răi, ci faptele bune sau rele (după această carte, în orice ai crede, vei vrea să aduni în această viață cât mai multe fapte bune). ”Lăsase amărăciunea și ranchiuna să crească în ea ca o buruiană și să-i sugrume optimismul, inima și încrederea în oameni” SAU ”Viața e prea scurtă ca să te lași măcinat de ură și de lipsă de îngăduință. Când găsești un lucru bun, prinde-l bine și nu-i mai da drumul”... Așadar, acestor două viziuni, orice diferențe ne-ar diviza, pe toți ne nutresc aceleași sentimente, pe unii îi înalță, iar pe alții îi îngenunchează... dar ele ne întregesc pe fiecare, ce e drept în diferite măsuri... măsuri care ne definesc! Riley ne lasă să înțelegem că fiecare avem această șansă minunată de a crea și de a împărtăși ce e mai bun sau mai puțin bun... Cei care înclină balanța în favoarea iubirii și armoniei, vor culege aurul vieții!
O capodoperă literară, iar Lucinda Riley un geniu literar, nu doar că a trăit o viață cât o sută, însă ne-a dăruit și nouă ocazia de a trăi zeci de vieți în universuri literare fabuloase! Vor fi cu adevărat binecuvântați toți cei care pot avea această carte în mâinile lor, cei care o pot atinge cu privirea și cei care îi vor da drumul în abisul inimii lor!
Povestea este genială... solidă, învăluită atât de realism (inspirația ficțiunii avându-și bazele în istoria marcantă a omenirii), cât și de sentimente pure, pe care eu, ca și cititor, nu le-am mai regăsit de multe apusuri încoace! Firul epic foarte lucid, dar presărat cu taine care fac inima cititorului să bată atât de tare pentru același scop ca al eroilor cărții, te atrag și te învăluie în această poveste incredibilă, reușind, de multe ori, să te transforme într-un observator contemporan cu personajele și să te contopească cu acest paradis literar. Felul în care se dezvăluie fiecare părticică de poveste, rând pe rând, îți antrenează mintea și conștiința într-un mod aparte, și, în același timp... te mistuie modul în care năvălește fraternitatea peste tine.
Personajele sunt atât de bine construite, încât, după cum spuneam, ai impresia că le-ai cunoscut cândva, că ai povestit cu ele, că ai trăit alături de ele și că ți s-au destăinuit chiar ție (sau poate și tu lor)! Sunt chiar, de multe ori, mai umane decât oamenii și mai asumate decât cei care au privilegiul de a trăi cu adevărat în această lume! Ele sunt un tribut extraordinar de veridic adus de către autoare rădăcinilor sufletești care au inspirat aceste portrete literare uimitoare, zămislind cu stoicism faptele vitejești ce au restaurat libertatea mult așteptată! Precum, de altfel, a arătat-o și istoria, efectele dezastruoase ale războiului și-a pus amprenta asupra tuturor care au fost nevoiți să-i țină piept, unii au dus războiul mai departe cu ei, rămânând captivi acestei catastrofe, însă alții au reușit să îmbrățișeze libertatea și să o ducă mai departe și altora!
O aventură sentimentală în care, după multe cumpene, în final, ”privilegiații” sperau că ”descoperiseră împreună fericirea, împlinirea și liniștea” ca un trofeu restituit după multe generații în care aceste trei comori (menționate în citat) au fost devorate de masacrul războiului (atât fizic, cât și sufletește). Fiecare personaj a primit grija pe care o poartă pictorul artist fiecărui detaliu din tablou, aparent nesemnificativ pentru ochii laicilor (nu e de mirare că a reușit să mă cucerească un personaj secundar, chiar episodic, dar, care a adus atât de mult suflu și intensitate poveștii - lucru care nu mi s-a mai întâmplat până acum, în acest mod, decât în cazul personajelor centrale). Riley nu te lasă să ratezi niciun detaliu, te ajută atât de mult să vezi totul clar și lucid!
O carte care mi-a intrat ireversibil în inimă și s-a așezat pentru totdeauna în biblioteca sufletului meu! Feeria scriiturii m-a captat pe deplin! Cu toate acestea, aș da orice să o mai pot citi încă o dată precum ar fi prima dată (știu că mulți am mai face acest lucru cu romanele noastre preferate)! Îi sunt recunoscătoare Lucindei Riley pentru darul ei literar (în primul rând fiindcă m-a scos din reading slump :D), cu atât mai mult pentru o avalanșă de sentimente, un melanj de emoții profunde și sincere care m-au învăluit în timpul lecturii, această carte a fost și prima care m-a făcut să plâng la ”Mulțumiri” (după o poveste încărcată de smerenie, onoare și caractere puternice, Riley m-a impresionat cu nota de final, când a transferat emoția din fictiv în real - am ales să nu dau niciun spoiler, e mai bine așa!:) - să vă lăsați surprinși de căldura acestei smerenii). A știut atât de bine să scoată tot ceea ce e mai valoros din imaginația ei și a plantat semințele frumosului în inima cititorilor!
Cartea este o prețioasă pildă pentru viață (deși este ficțiune istorică, ar fi profund îndrăgită de simpatizanții lecturilor de dezvoltare personală, deoarece i-ar surprinde modul profund în care pot învăța lecții importante pe parcursul parcurgerii ei - lecții care le vor rămâne fidele mereu)! Menirea sau scopul primordial al cărții este, atât laitmotivul de a alege ”din ce tabără faci parte”, cât și evidențierea modului în care reflectorul strălucește mereu mai tare asupra părților bune din oameni (în ciuda faptului că viața cotidiană arată aparent altfel, însă numai aparent), o dată prin ”butterfly effect”, dar și felul în care sunt puse în anti-teză, nu oamenii buni sau răi, ci faptele bune sau rele (după această carte, în orice ai crede, vei vrea să aduni în această viață cât mai multe fapte bune). ”Lăsase amărăciunea și ranchiuna să crească în ea ca o buruiană și să-i sugrume optimismul, inima și încrederea în oameni” SAU ”Viața e prea scurtă ca să te lași măcinat de ură și de lipsă de îngăduință. Când găsești un lucru bun, prinde-l bine și nu-i mai da drumul”... Așadar, acestor două viziuni, orice diferențe ne-ar diviza, pe toți ne nutresc aceleași sentimente, pe unii îi înalță, iar pe alții îi îngenunchează... dar ele ne întregesc pe fiecare, ce e drept în diferite măsuri... măsuri care ne definesc! Riley ne lasă să înțelegem că fiecare avem această șansă minunată de a crea și de a împărtăși ce e mai bun sau mai puțin bun... Cei care înclină balanța în favoarea iubirii și armoniei, vor culege aurul vieții!
O capodoperă literară, iar Lucinda Riley un geniu literar, nu doar că a trăit o viață cât o sută, însă ne-a dăruit și nouă ocazia de a trăi zeci de vieți în universuri literare fabuloase! Vor fi cu adevărat binecuvântați toți cei care pot avea această carte în mâinile lor, cei care o pot atinge cu privirea și cei care îi vor da drumul în abisul inimii lor!
August 26, 2018
1 Star - Just horrible
TW; rape (I put it in one of the spoilers, but just in case someone wants to go through and read them all.)
I bought this book at a library book sale. I’d never heard of the book before, it wasn’t on my radar, however the description on the back of the book sounded interesting so I spent the 50¢ and bought it. I’ll boldly say it’s not even worth the half-dollar I paid for it.
This one is classified as historical fiction and that it is. I have no qualms with that. However, that’s probably my only non-objection to this one. Lucinda Riley attempts to interweave the stories of Emilie de la Martinières, a young French woman who recently inherited a vast fortune after her mother’s death, and Constance Carruthers, a young English woman who was sent to France during World War II as a special operative. Riley then tells the reader how these two women, decades apart, are intertwined. The potential this story had was immense but unfortunately it remains just that - potential.
One of the first issues I stumbled across in this book is that it is so filled with clichés and overused tropes. They make the book truly unbearable. Only 20 pages in and I found the following: daughter hates mom but loves her dad, mom disapproves of daughter’s lifestyle, basic and stupid French stereotypes (foofy little dog, obsession with wine, aristocracy, etc.). I mean, fine, have one or two but not all of them, C’mon.
I will also say that the dialogue and language in which this book is written is ridiculous. It’s kitschy in the WWII sections for sure and, throughout the whole book and both times periods, way too formal. I understand that for most of the book the characters are speaking in French but, as someone who speaks French, I also know how to translate it to English. The tone was just all wrong and way too off-putting.
Now onto the characters. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book with such one-dimensional and predictable characters. They seem like caricatures of themselves. It was so bizarre and not fun to read. I knew how each would react to a situation because none of them had any depth. Don’t misunderstand me, the author adds what she thinks is complexity to most of the characters but it doesn’t work. It falls flat on all counts. Take for instance Emilie, our 1990s “heroine.” From the first few pages the author sets her up to be a woman who’s rebelled against her family’s (mainly mother’s) wishes and taken an ordinary career - a vet. However, there is nothing rebellious or remotely interesting about her that sets her apart from what the reader can imagine to be her aristocratic counterparts. She’s incapable of doing anything on her own. Simply put, she is an idiot. That may sound harsh but it’s true. She is irritating and is so easily persuaded. Her reaction to Sebastian’s story about his brother, Alex, is horrifying.
The relationship between Emilie and Sebastian starts out on a creepy, weird note and that never bodes well. Their whole relationship is manipulative and . It has strong tendencies toward emotional and verbal abuse, maybe even financial if you stretch your mind a bit. They’re not a convincing couple at any point.
I know I’ve focused on Emilie’s side of the story but much of the complaints I have for her storyline carry over to Constance’s. A unique grievance I have with her story is the In general I don’t have issues when books
Just one other thing before I wrap this one up. The way Emilie throws in at the very end that feels rushed and makes zero sense. It doesn’t add anything to the story. I just personally think that that scene was random and poorly done.
Do I recommend this one? Absolutely not.
TW; rape (I put it in one of the spoilers, but just in case someone wants to go through and read them all.)
I bought this book at a library book sale. I’d never heard of the book before, it wasn’t on my radar, however the description on the back of the book sounded interesting so I spent the 50¢ and bought it. I’ll boldly say it’s not even worth the half-dollar I paid for it.
This one is classified as historical fiction and that it is. I have no qualms with that. However, that’s probably my only non-objection to this one. Lucinda Riley attempts to interweave the stories of Emilie de la Martinières, a young French woman who recently inherited a vast fortune after her mother’s death, and Constance Carruthers, a young English woman who was sent to France during World War II as a special operative. Riley then tells the reader how these two women, decades apart, are intertwined. The potential this story had was immense but unfortunately it remains just that - potential.
One of the first issues I stumbled across in this book is that it is so filled with clichés and overused tropes. They make the book truly unbearable. Only 20 pages in and I found the following: daughter hates mom but loves her dad, mom disapproves of daughter’s lifestyle, basic and stupid French stereotypes (foofy little dog, obsession with wine, aristocracy, etc.). I mean, fine, have one or two but not all of them, C’mon.
I will also say that the dialogue and language in which this book is written is ridiculous. It’s kitschy in the WWII sections for sure and, throughout the whole book and both times periods, way too formal. I understand that for most of the book the characters are speaking in French but, as someone who speaks French, I also know how to translate it to English. The tone was just all wrong and way too off-putting.
Now onto the characters. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book with such one-dimensional and predictable characters. They seem like caricatures of themselves. It was so bizarre and not fun to read. I knew how each would react to a situation because none of them had any depth. Don’t misunderstand me, the author adds what she thinks is complexity to most of the characters but it doesn’t work. It falls flat on all counts. Take for instance Emilie, our 1990s “heroine.” From the first few pages the author sets her up to be a woman who’s rebelled against her family’s (mainly mother’s) wishes and taken an ordinary career - a vet. However, there is nothing rebellious or remotely interesting about her that sets her apart from what the reader can imagine to be her aristocratic counterparts. She’s incapable of doing anything on her own. Simply put, she is an idiot. That may sound harsh but it’s true. She is irritating and is so easily persuaded. Her reaction to Sebastian’s story about his brother, Alex, is horrifying.
The relationship between Emilie and Sebastian starts out on a creepy, weird note and that never bodes well. Their whole relationship is manipulative and . It has strong tendencies toward emotional and verbal abuse, maybe even financial if you stretch your mind a bit. They’re not a convincing couple at any point.
I know I’ve focused on Emilie’s side of the story but much of the complaints I have for her storyline carry over to Constance’s. A unique grievance I have with her story is the In general I don’t have issues when books
Just one other thing before I wrap this one up. The way Emilie throws in at the very end that feels rushed and makes zero sense. It doesn’t add anything to the story. I just personally think that that scene was random and poorly done.
Do I recommend this one? Absolutely not.
August 4, 2015
Peca de previsible, pero es una buena lectura.
No habiendo leído aún “Hothouse Flower”, me decidí por conocer a Lucinda Riley a través de esta novela, de la que también había escuchado buenas referencias.
Combina, como en tantas otras, una historia en el presente y otra en el pasado, concretamente en 1943, en las postrimerías de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y en la Francia ocupada por los nazis.
Francamente, encontré la historia de Emilie un tanto floja y poco creíble, con un personaje central muy endeble y sin consistencia, mientras que la de Connie y el entorno de la Francia ocupada me pareció bastante mejor descrito, además de más interesante. La resolución final, que une por fin a las dos familias protagonistas, aunque bien narrada, quizás haya sido demasiado previsible (O tal vez es que yo haya leído demasiadas novelas de temática similar).
En su conjunto, y por el interés general con el que se lee la historia, le daría un cuatro. Pero su previsibilidad y el arranque un tanto lento de la trama hacen que, finalmente, me decida por un tres. Aún así, lectura muy recomendable para tardes de lluvia y chimenea.
No habiendo leído aún “Hothouse Flower”, me decidí por conocer a Lucinda Riley a través de esta novela, de la que también había escuchado buenas referencias.
Combina, como en tantas otras, una historia en el presente y otra en el pasado, concretamente en 1943, en las postrimerías de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y en la Francia ocupada por los nazis.
Francamente, encontré la historia de Emilie un tanto floja y poco creíble, con un personaje central muy endeble y sin consistencia, mientras que la de Connie y el entorno de la Francia ocupada me pareció bastante mejor descrito, además de más interesante. La resolución final, que une por fin a las dos familias protagonistas, aunque bien narrada, quizás haya sido demasiado previsible (O tal vez es que yo haya leído demasiadas novelas de temática similar).
En su conjunto, y por el interés general con el que se lee la historia, le daría un cuatro. Pero su previsibilidad y el arranque un tanto lento de la trama hacen que, finalmente, me decida por un tres. Aún así, lectura muy recomendable para tardes de lluvia y chimenea.
January 31, 2022
Labai įdomi ir intriguojanti istorija, kur susipina praeitis ir ateitis, dviejų šeimų istorija, nukelianti į Antrojo pasaulinio karo laikų Paryžių ir šių laikų pietų Prancūziją bei Angliją. Labai patiko ❤️
September 22, 2017
nach dem zweiten mal lesen gefällt es mir so viel besser
July 17, 2018
"Vječna noć ;
Tama je jedini moj svijet.
Težak teret ;
S mojeg prozora svjetlo neće gorjet.
Vedriji dan ;
Netko mi pruža ruku u toj tmini..."
Tama je jedini moj svijet.
Težak teret ;
S mojeg prozora svjetlo neće gorjet.
Vedriji dan ;
Netko mi pruža ruku u toj tmini..."
January 22, 2014
I had a difficult time getting into this novel. The relationship that forms between two of the main characters seemed artificial and contrived. For the first 60 pages, I just kept thinking, "how could Riley write such unconvincing dribble!" As it turns out, there was a method in her madness and it all came together later in the novel. Once I became immersed in the story, I got swept away in what is now the familiar intricacies of Riley's plots. While I liked The Orchid House and The Girl on the Cliff better than The Lavender Garden, this was still an entertaining and exciting story. I especially liked how it focused on women's roles in the underground resistance in France in WWII. This is a part of the war that I was not familiar with and I enjoyed learning about it.
July 2, 2020
Deși după fiecare carte a Lucindei Riley mi-am zis că pe următoarea nu o mai citesc, am cedat și de data asta în urma numeroaselor recenzii și feedbackuri pozitive. Și da, în sfârșit i-am dat și eu 5 steluțe, deși a fost cam de 4,5 pentru că la povestea din prezent tot au mai scârțâit niste chestii (la toate romanele ei am observat asta...). Dar per total povestea m-a cucerit, personajele au fost interesante, acțiunea și suspansul nu au lipsit. Mi-a plăcut neașteptat de mult.
Grădina cu lavandă este un roman înduioșător despre iubire, sacrificiu și familie. Recomand! Este genul de carte pe care cu greu o poți lăsa din mână. 😉
Grădina cu lavandă este un roman înduioșător despre iubire, sacrificiu și familie. Recomand! Este genul de carte pe care cu greu o poți lăsa din mână. 😉
January 9, 2024
Jedan od boljih romana Lusinde Rajli koji sam pročitala. Ovaj nije nadugo i naširoko ispričala (kao ostale). Sve se složilo u pristojnom okviru.
Ocjena 5
Ocjena 5
October 29, 2021
3.5
Bardzo dobre, ciekawa historia, przy której nie można się nudzić.
Bardzo dobre, ciekawa historia, przy której nie można się nudzić.
December 21, 2020
Siempre disfruto mucho leyendo a Lucinda Riley, sus libros no fallan, siempre son un acierto!
Maravillosa esta historia que combina la aventura, el misterio, el amor, el coraje... generando tantas emociones que es imposible dejar de leer y, seguramente, muy difícil de olvidar. Muy recomendado!
Maravillosa esta historia que combina la aventura, el misterio, el amor, el coraje... generando tantas emociones que es imposible dejar de leer y, seguramente, muy difícil de olvidar. Muy recomendado!
July 18, 2021
In diesem Buch geht es um Emilie deren Mutter stirbt. Als Emilie allein mit dem Erbe ihrer Mutter dasteht und überlegt was sie damit machen möchte geht sie zurück in das Chateau ihrer Familie. Zufällig findet sie dort die Geschichtsammlung ihrer Tante Sophia. Von einem Freund der Familie erfährt Emilie die Geschichte von Constance die in der Vergangenheit Gast in ihrer Familie war und sie erfährt auch mehr über die Geschichte von Sophia.
Mir hat der Lavendelgarten sehr gut gefallen. Es wird nicht das letzte Buch von Lucinda Riley sein das ich lesen werde. Außerdem wird es auch nicht ausziehen wie ich ursprünglich geplant habe. Zugegebenermaßen habe ich aber2 Versuche gebraucht bis ich das Buch beenden konnte. Beim ersten Mal war wahrscheinlich einfach die falsche Zeit für das Buch. Jetzt beim zweiten Mal hatte ich echt Spaß beim Lesen und wollte mehr über Emilie und ihre Geschichte und die Vergangenheit ihrer Familie erfahren.
Das Buch wird in zwei Erzählsträngen und zwei Sichten erzählt. Der Teil der Gegenwart beschäftigt sich mit Emilie im Jahr 1998. In der Vergangenheit folgen wir Constance in der Zeit um 1943 zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Es war interessant aus der Zeit zu lesen und zu erfahren wie die Menschen dort gelebt haben. Aber auch der Teil der Gegenwart hatte interessante Aspekte über die ich mehr wissen wollte. Das Buch hat 5 Sterne von mir bekommen. Ich freue mich weitere Bücher der Autorin zu lesen.
Mir hat der Lavendelgarten sehr gut gefallen. Es wird nicht das letzte Buch von Lucinda Riley sein das ich lesen werde. Außerdem wird es auch nicht ausziehen wie ich ursprünglich geplant habe. Zugegebenermaßen habe ich aber2 Versuche gebraucht bis ich das Buch beenden konnte. Beim ersten Mal war wahrscheinlich einfach die falsche Zeit für das Buch. Jetzt beim zweiten Mal hatte ich echt Spaß beim Lesen und wollte mehr über Emilie und ihre Geschichte und die Vergangenheit ihrer Familie erfahren.
Das Buch wird in zwei Erzählsträngen und zwei Sichten erzählt. Der Teil der Gegenwart beschäftigt sich mit Emilie im Jahr 1998. In der Vergangenheit folgen wir Constance in der Zeit um 1943 zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Es war interessant aus der Zeit zu lesen und zu erfahren wie die Menschen dort gelebt haben. Aber auch der Teil der Gegenwart hatte interessante Aspekte über die ich mehr wissen wollte. Das Buch hat 5 Sterne von mir bekommen. Ich freue mich weitere Bücher der Autorin zu lesen.
November 14, 2016
I have never been disappointed with a Lucinda Riley book. This is my 3rd book by her and I really enjoyed this one. She generally writes stories with dual time lines going - a story in the past and one in the present that then tie together. I personally enjoy these type of books. This story does deal with the time of the Nazi occupation of France in WW 2 and the stress connected with that is pretty high. I was definitely on the edge of my seat at times! The book has a good ending and I plan to read more by this author for sure.
March 16, 2020
Grădina cu lavandă are o poveste frumoasă, bazată pe dragoste, încredere și sacrificii. Lucinda Riley se numără printre autorii pe care îi citesc mereu cu drag. Deși mai are obiceiul de a se pierde în detalii inutile sau de a se pierde printre replici irelevante, autoarea are darul de a povesti. Eu am găsit în poveștile sale scânteia aceea care mă determină să merg mai departe, să vreau să știu povestea, să vreau să cunosc personajele.
Grădina cu lavandă este o îmbinare între trecut și prezent, fix genul meu preferat de poveste. Planul prezent nu strălucește, te prinzi repede de cum stau lucrurile, dar are personaje interesante, care fac deliciul lecturii. S-a potrivit perfect stării mele, pot chiar să spun că aveam nevoie de o carte în care să îmi pierd pașii. Și, da, pot asemăna lectura acestei cărți cu o plimbare printr-o grădină cu lavandă. M-am lăsat vrăjită de spectacolul de sub ochii mei, m-am avântat pe aleile necurățate ale trecutului și am luat cu mine parfumul ei. M-a lăsat cu o stare de bine, tânjeam după un anume final și n-am să vă spun care sau dacă l-am primit. Sau… poate… Mai bine nu!
Grădina cu lavandă este o îmbinare între trecut și prezent, fix genul meu preferat de poveste. Planul prezent nu strălucește, te prinzi repede de cum stau lucrurile, dar are personaje interesante, care fac deliciul lecturii. S-a potrivit perfect stării mele, pot chiar să spun că aveam nevoie de o carte în care să îmi pierd pașii. Și, da, pot asemăna lectura acestei cărți cu o plimbare printr-o grădină cu lavandă. M-am lăsat vrăjită de spectacolul de sub ochii mei, m-am avântat pe aleile necurățate ale trecutului și am luat cu mine parfumul ei. M-a lăsat cu o stare de bine, tânjeam după un anume final și n-am să vă spun care sau dacă l-am primit. Sau… poate… Mai bine nu!
March 28, 2020
O carte care mi-a placut foarte mult. Subiect bogat, personaje bine conturate, scriitura placuta. A fost o surpriza foarte placuta, chiar daca romanul este voluminos.
August 6, 2012
Yet again Lucinda Riley has created and weaved a story which has you gripped from the beginning to the end. You have to keep reading, you have to know what happens you have to know if love will conquer all, if war will end, if all wrongs will be righted and that the light will shine again from behind the window where it has been hiding for many years of the main characters.
Emilie de la Martinieres is there when her glamorous mother draws her final breath. As the end comes, Emilie realises what a task she now has to face, as the sole remaining heir she has to sort a flat in Paris, her mother's jewels and other remnants of her famous and glamorous life as well as the Chateau in the south of France, which her mother hated, but Emilie loved as a child when her father was alive.
The Chateau holds memories good and bad, and as Emilie discovers these she also discovers something of the past which has an immediate effect on the future. The reader goes on an emotional rollercoaster with Emilie, as it seems all is suddenly well with the sudden appearance of Sebastian Carruthers, an Englishman visiting the south of France because of a family tale from his grandmother. For Emilie suddenly life is going to be easy and full of light and love. Then everything builds to the top and most highest point of the rollercoaster, emotions are running high and the descent is rather fast and makes her relook at all she has. Does she need to once again reassess all that is left behind?
Constance Carruthers is a young married woman, whose husband is missing in action. Not wanting to be idle, Constance goes to do some war work as an office clerk. However, something about Constance stands out and she is one of the few selected to the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and after fierce and extraordinary training she is landed in France, and has to make it to Paris to help the Resistance in Vichy France. However, contact is not easy and she is suddenly all alone in a foregin country, under an assumed name with no hope of ever returning home in the immediate future. It is a case of fight or flight. Constance chooses to fight and finds herself placed in the most extraordinary position in the house of Edouard de la Martinieres. Not how she envisaged spending the war.
Here the past and the present collide in Lucinda's story as they have done in her previous novels and is a skill will she handles effectively with ease and no obvious break with the story. Edouard is Emilie's father. Sebastian is Constance's grandson. So the links are complete. All you need to do now is sit back and enjoy the story, it captures you, it shines light in your heart, and it turns the pages long into the night.
The author has a skill in drawing you right into the characters lives so much so that you experience all that they do and just as you think you know the outcome or the next stage in their development, it is shifted again. A veritable tease in some ways a good skill of holding the reader's attention in others. I did not want this book to end, it could have been double the size and I still would have wanted to learn more about both the past and the present.
If you are looking for a story, perhaps something old fashioned but something with history, romance, big domineering houses that are as good as characters, conflict and resolution, love and loss, prejudice in race, in class then this book will tick all the boxes. Therefore buy it, read it and enjoy it.
Emilie de la Martinieres is there when her glamorous mother draws her final breath. As the end comes, Emilie realises what a task she now has to face, as the sole remaining heir she has to sort a flat in Paris, her mother's jewels and other remnants of her famous and glamorous life as well as the Chateau in the south of France, which her mother hated, but Emilie loved as a child when her father was alive.
The Chateau holds memories good and bad, and as Emilie discovers these she also discovers something of the past which has an immediate effect on the future. The reader goes on an emotional rollercoaster with Emilie, as it seems all is suddenly well with the sudden appearance of Sebastian Carruthers, an Englishman visiting the south of France because of a family tale from his grandmother. For Emilie suddenly life is going to be easy and full of light and love. Then everything builds to the top and most highest point of the rollercoaster, emotions are running high and the descent is rather fast and makes her relook at all she has. Does she need to once again reassess all that is left behind?
Constance Carruthers is a young married woman, whose husband is missing in action. Not wanting to be idle, Constance goes to do some war work as an office clerk. However, something about Constance stands out and she is one of the few selected to the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and after fierce and extraordinary training she is landed in France, and has to make it to Paris to help the Resistance in Vichy France. However, contact is not easy and she is suddenly all alone in a foregin country, under an assumed name with no hope of ever returning home in the immediate future. It is a case of fight or flight. Constance chooses to fight and finds herself placed in the most extraordinary position in the house of Edouard de la Martinieres. Not how she envisaged spending the war.
Here the past and the present collide in Lucinda's story as they have done in her previous novels and is a skill will she handles effectively with ease and no obvious break with the story. Edouard is Emilie's father. Sebastian is Constance's grandson. So the links are complete. All you need to do now is sit back and enjoy the story, it captures you, it shines light in your heart, and it turns the pages long into the night.
The author has a skill in drawing you right into the characters lives so much so that you experience all that they do and just as you think you know the outcome or the next stage in their development, it is shifted again. A veritable tease in some ways a good skill of holding the reader's attention in others. I did not want this book to end, it could have been double the size and I still would have wanted to learn more about both the past and the present.
If you are looking for a story, perhaps something old fashioned but something with history, romance, big domineering houses that are as good as characters, conflict and resolution, love and loss, prejudice in race, in class then this book will tick all the boxes. Therefore buy it, read it and enjoy it.
June 29, 2022
Warning! Contains spoilers!
I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Lucinda Riley novels in the past but sincerely believe her to have been the consummate story teller. This one is unputdownable with a dual timeline set in Nazi occupied France 1944 & England & France in the present day. Multiple plot lines & characters who all interlink make for a really absorbing read. There were a couple of minor aspects which jarred for me, the main one being the lack of communication/contact/conversation between Seb & Emilie after the climatic end to their marriage. I felt, after a really big build up to Emilie’s discoveries about Seb, this plot line was then allowed to fizzle out in an unrealistic way. A show down would have been nice! A little disappointing to the reader having been heavily invested for so long in that storyline. However- still a great read & I did not guess the identity of baby Victoria as an adult either.
I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Lucinda Riley novels in the past but sincerely believe her to have been the consummate story teller. This one is unputdownable with a dual timeline set in Nazi occupied France 1944 & England & France in the present day. Multiple plot lines & characters who all interlink make for a really absorbing read. There were a couple of minor aspects which jarred for me, the main one being the lack of communication/contact/conversation between Seb & Emilie after the climatic end to their marriage. I felt, after a really big build up to Emilie’s discoveries about Seb, this plot line was then allowed to fizzle out in an unrealistic way. A show down would have been nice! A little disappointing to the reader having been heavily invested for so long in that storyline. However- still a great read & I did not guess the identity of baby Victoria as an adult either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2017
Started out a bit slow (and silly at times), but developed into an emotional novel that was very engrossing. The suspense was a little on the low side, since the answers to most of the mysteries in the book were quite obvious, but it is still an absorbing read with great characters you'll enjoy rooting for.
November 6, 2017
Predivna knjiga, toliko sadržajna, životna, likovi skoro opipljivi...Stil ove spisateljice me zaista oduševljava...Toliko truda, detalja, emotivnosti, prikazi jednostavni, ležerni, ne postoji ništa ubrzano,usiljeno..vrlo vješt pripovjedač.......Knjiga vrijedna svake sekundice...
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