A deeply poignant, richly compelling novel of complex relationships, generational trauma and our capacity to forgive, from the acclaimed author of The Summer Trip.
This book is a stunning combination of contemporary fiction, domestic drama and romance with an underlying hint of mystery throughout. The first line hooked me and the chapters following kept me there until the very end, transporting me to a beautiful French landscape and a dilapidated guesthouse.
This is a character driven novel with an emotional journey at its heart, not just for the main characters but those around them too. It has an atmospheric setting and a focus on grief, forgiveness, growth and second chances.
There’s humour, warmth, angst and heartbreak, and, of course, Madame, the dog. It’s an escapist and immersive read, dealing with some very delicate topics and themes at times but bringing in enough setting and light-hearted moments to soften the edges.
If you enjoy destination reads, where the emotional landscape is as rich as the physical one this novel delivers a comforting and engaging journey.
About the Book
Sometimes the only way to rebuild is to face the past you tried to escape…
On the night Fliss loses everything – her beloved hotel ravaged by fire and fiancé exposed as a cheat – she receives devastating news: her estranged mother has died. They hadn’t spoken in fifteen years and Fliss has stayed away for her own self-preservation.
Summoned to a dilapidated guesthouse in France for the reading of the will, Fliss is stunned to discover she has been left all her mother’s possessions. But the inheritance comes at a price – both literal and emotional. Sharing the house is Etienne, her mother’s grief-stricken, wine-soaked partner, and his guarded yet magnetic nephew, Benoit.
As Fliss begins restoring the guesthouse, she unearths long-buried secrets about her mother, their past and the true cost of her long absence. But to move forward, cure her guilt and claim the love and happiness she’s never thought she deserves, Fliss must first reckon with the hardest question of all: can she forgive?
A deeply poignant, richly compelling novel of complex relationships, generational trauma and our capacity to forgive, from the acclaimed author of The Summer Trip.
About The Author
Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts at university in London before a 12-year stint at Heat magazine. When she is not travelling all over the world seeking out settings for her escapist novels, Isabelle can mostly be found in Suffolk, where she shares a home with her two dogs and more books than she could ever hope to read in a lifetime.
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