Possibly French coming of age book with a girl who has a difficult relationship with her mother, they don't get along at all, while she really looks up her aunt who is rich and lives in the city and spoils her.

[Cristiana]

I read this book several years ago. In my memory, it seems like one of those classic coming of age books of the FRench literature. Here's the whole story: the family of the girl is a relatively poor family. I'm not sure what the father does, he is a workman of some kid, while the mother would clean the houses of richer families. She also has an older brother. The family is forced to move somewhere else and they encounter financial difficulties. The relationship with her father is good but she really can't stand her strict mother. The girl has a rich aunt (her mom's sister) who lives in the city (Paris I think, if they are in France) and when the aunt sees her she always spoils her with clothes and nice stuff that her mom can't and won't buy to her.

During the summer, the girls is allowed to go on holiday with her aunt somewhere on the coast. They meet a man and a nice couple. Th eaunt gets involved in some sort of business (maybe regarding a painting) and when it's time to go home, the girl realises that her aunt and the man who she thought they had just met, were actually in on the scam together. I think the aunt gets arrested nonetheless, and the girl 's mother forbids her to see the aunt. But after some time, when the girl is in Paris, she accidentally finds her aunt's new shop (some sort of antiques or art shop). She eventually decides to confront her aunt and tells her she no longer wants to live with her family, she wants to live her and help with the shop. The aunt says she can stay for a day or two and the girl helps organizing a big party/auction.

SPOILERS FROM NOW ON. After the party, during the night, the girl is awaken by noises and finds her aunt and the man of the holiday running away together with all the money they made from the auction. She gets dressed and goes after them, meeting them at the train station and gets on their same train. She then shows up to her aunt and tells her she will go with them. The aunt tells her she can't and eventually the girl agrees. The aunt then decides to take the girl back home and leaves the money with her partner, who she will meet at the next stop. The aunt gets the girl back home to the family but a few moments later they hear the police downstairs: they have come to get her. The aunt gets arrested and the girl eventually comes to the term with her mother and feels like she has finally grown up.

This is the main storyline: I also remember the brother gettong married with a girl and maybe having a kid...

That is all, I hope it is enough!! Thank you if you can help me... this is killing me.

[Emily]

Can you rewrite your subject header to remove the all caps, please? Thanks.

[Kris]

Removed the ALL CAPS from the topic header. It looks like shouting.

[Cristiana]

Cristiana wrote: "I read this book several years ago. In my memory, it seems like one of those classic coming of age books of the FRench literature. Here's the whole story: the family of the girl is a relatively poo..."

Oops! So sorry, it must have been already on and I forgot to turn it off. Rewriting it right away !

Thank you :)

[Kris]

No worries.

[Daisy]

Something by Colette?