Sunday 14 July 2013

Review ~ The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley

The Lavender Garden
Atria Books
6 June 2013
"Unlocking the past
      is the key to the future"

Following her mother’s death in 1998, Emilie de la Martinières, returns to the family château in the sun drenched Côte d’Azur. She is dismayed to find that her reckless mother has been profligate with the family finances, and if the chateau is to remain in her family, Emilie has some tough financial choices to make. When the enigmatic Englishman Sebastian weaves his way into her life, Emilie is faced with her growing attraction to him, and whilst trying to rationalise Sebastian’s interest, Emilie must also seek out the truth behind the château’s involvement during the German occupation in WW2.

This dual time narrative gets off to something of a slow start but as the story evolves and it becomes more obvious where the story is going, the narrative becomes much more interesting. Both dual time frames are captured well; the suspicion of wartime and the indecision and fear of discovery is well thought out, as is the present day romance story of Emilie and Sebastian.



Overall, this is an interesting and enjoyable family saga which blends secrets, history and a smattering of romance.


My thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for my copy of this book 



**This book is also entitled The Light Behind the Window **

2 comments:

  1. Netgalley turned me down on this one, and I hadn't realised it was the same book as The Light behind The Window - phew!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read The Light Behind the Window last year and really loved it, she's a great author. I'm looking forward to her next book x

    ReplyDelete

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