Een volwassen roman met een verbluffende verbeeldingskracht en een bijna filmische spanning. Een aangrijpend debuut (Le Figaro Littéraire).

A gripping, intriguing story of the intertwined lives of 3 very different women, set in France just before the country is overrun by the German army and modern day.
Letters start to be delivered to Camille from someone unknown to her and so begins an absorbing tale of friendship and loss that held me to the end.
There was one question which didn't get answered - who was the Confidant?
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Gallic via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review. ( )

Brilliant, I just had to keep reading and the twists in the plot kept on coming right until the last page. The writer is adept at handling the unreliable narrator. Just when you thought you had the story clear an alternative narrative voice would reveal a new piece of information. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Oma arvio: On vuosi 1975 Pariisissa. Camille menettää äitinsä ja saa postitse paljon surunvalitteluja. Osa kirjeistä kertoo tarinaa, joka sijoittuu toisen maailmansodan aikaan ja Camille ihmettelee ovatko kirjeet todellakin tarkoitettu hänelle. Kirjeissä ei ole allekirjoitusta ja ne kertovat mystisten Louisin ja Annien rakkaustarinaa. Tästä muodostuu kirjan rakenne: nykyhetkestä ja menneisyydestä. Kirjassa on selkeä juoni ja ikäänkuin takaumina toimivat kirjeet tuovat jopa pientä jännitystä tarinaan. Kertoja vaihtuu samalla kuin aikakin, välillä kertojana on nainen ja välillä mies. Se tuo tarinaan syvyyttä. Toisaalta tämä on melko lyhyt tarina eikä se jää pitkäksi aikaa mieleen. ( )

In Paris in 1975, Camille’s mother has recently died and she is struggling to cope, when she receives the first of a series of long confessional letters from a man called Louis, recalling a love story set in the 1930s and 1940s. The Second World War and the German occupation of France are a backdrop to the story rather than a main part of it.

Louis loved Annie from when they were at school together. Annie became friends with a wealthy woman who moved to their village. Madame M is desperate to have a baby and somehow persuades Annie to help her. A complicated, tragic story unfolds.

I enjoyed reading this novel and working out the story, but I didn’t find most of the characters entirely convincing – Annie seems too good to be true, and Madame M too scheming and unpleasant. Various references to historical events of the time seem to add little to the story, which is not about the political history of the time.

With these reservations, this is still worth reading, and I would probably read another book by the author. ( )