Virginie Grimaldi

France’s best-selling novelist Virginie Grimaldi makes her American debut in A Good Life, the story of two devoted sisters who grew up with a unstable mother.

Emma dedicated her life to protecting her younger sister Agathe, sheltering her from the worst of their mother’s fits of anger and frequent visits to rehab. Summers at their beloved grandmother’s house near the ocean offered the girls a respite, a place where they knew a love that didn’t hurt.

Emma grew up too fast, had to be serious and reliable, a counterbalance to Agathe’s fits of depression and manic episodes. It wore Emma out, and she had to choose to put her own well being and own life first. After years estranged, the sisters come together for a last vacation at their grandmother’s house. For their beloved grandmother has passed and the house has been sold.

Over the week, the woman swim and remember, discover secrets, and reestablish their bond. The back story reveals a history of pain and loss that has marked them.

Told in the woman’s voices in their past and the present, their story of dedication and struggle is moving and life affirming, with a ending that requires a handkerchief. In the end, Emma considers if hers was a good life. And we will respond with a resounding “yes”.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.… (más)

Je viens de finir Quand nos souvenirs viendront danser et j’ai bien aimé. Virginie Grimaldi joue vraiment bien avec les émotions en racontant à la première personne la vie de cette octogénaire et plus particulièrement son combat avec ses voisins pour sauver son quartier de la démolition. Ce n’est pas une maison qu’elle veut sauver, c’est le lieu où elle a passé l’essentiel de sa vie, ce sont ses souvenirs. Elle raconte sa vie, ponctuée de grandes joies mais aussi de grandes douleurs avec une touche d’humour parce que mamie apparait acariâtre, une carapace pour masquer ses blessures. C’est drôle, triste et beau à la fois : un livre assez court mais riche en émotions.… (más)

Chasing the stars has a motorhome on the front cover and this what attracted me at first. It is a motorhoming tale in some respects but it is mostly about a family and mother-daughter relationships as they fall apart and find each other again. Anna, mum works hard but is failing to keep her head above water. Her two daughters, Chloe, 17 years old and Lily aged 12, hardly see her. Anna is made redundant and borrows her parents motorhome to go on a long tour around Scandanavia. The family meet up with a group of four other motorhomers and find friendship as well as each other. Sometimes sentimental but a good story, it is written from the point of view of all three members of the family. Chloe's chapters are her blog and Lily is writing in her diary. The novel is often funny, some of which must be to the credit of the translator, and often moving.… (más)

L’une vient de donner naissance à une petite fille arrivée trop tôt. Elle est minuscule, pourtant elle prend déjà tellement de place.
L’autre vient de voir ses grands enfants quitter le nid. Son fils laisse un vide immense, mais aussi son chien farfelu.
L’une doit apprendre à être mère à temps plein, l’autre doit apprendre à être mère à la retraite.
C’est l’histoire universelle de ces moments qui font basculer la vie, de ces vagues d’émotions qui balaient tout sur leur passage, et de ces rencontres indélébiles qui changent un destin.… (más)