Kendra’s life is not going as well as it should. Her relationship with her husband has soured a bit and she has a special-needs child, possibly autistic. One day she visits her grandmother Ella who is afraid her memory will fail soon; plus she seems to be not doing well health-wise. During their visit, the grandmother asks Kendra to write her life story, using the letters and papers she has saved plus the memories she still can recall, which she thinks her experiences may benefit others.

Thus, with Kendra’s story providing the frame, the readers get to know Ella’s story, which is told in a back-and-forth fashion changing between the present day in Scotland and Ella’s story beginning with when Ella was seventeen years old when she visited Île de Ré in France in 1937. Finding the love of her life Christophe there, Ella surely cannot foresee the havoc World War II would bring into the lives of everyone. To say more about the story would be giving it away, so I’ll leave it to the readers to find out what happened to Ella, and at the end, to Kendra.

The back-and-forth storytelling, although most writers nowadays think it is the thing to do, can sometimes confuse the readers if not handled well. Not in this novel, however. Fiona Valpry uses it very effectively to aid it to the flow of the story instead of hindering it, and this is to add to her excellent storytelling and credible characterization.

The highlighted setting is Île de Ré as that place has a major effect on the characters, although other places in the setting are quite significant, too.

I liked all the characters, even though Ella’s wavering between two men bothered me a bit, but this was through no fault of her own. In fact, Ella was a courageous woman who volunteered and did an impressive job during the war. The true villain here was the war.

Still, Kendra’s story broke my heart more. Having a special-needs son is the job of a lifetime. At the end of the novel, she seemed to handle everything much better.

The subplots are also dealt with utmost care. While not taking away from the main plot, they are strong and believable, together with the characters in them.

The entire novel was a joy to read as the story was poignant, filled with different kinds of love, hope, and tragedy, too.

those who like a good love story enhanced by other events.

Cristophe's and Caroline's characters.

is Fiona Valpry.

It is a good story, masterfully executed.

A bit too emotional for me, but the author has handled everything so well.

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Created Aug 27, 2019 at 12:56pm • Submit your own review...