This book took me away. Away to a life that thank goodness we don’t have to live now. But of course that is what Inès, Céline, Michel, and Theo thought at the time too. They never expected that the war and the Germans would affect them the way it did. There is also Edith, Inès’s best friend and her husband Eduard. They play a fairly big part in this book and in the resistance during the war.
This book is told from Liv’s life in the present and then between Inès and Céline during the war in the late 1930s-1940s. Each has had much upheaval in their lives. Things happened that they didn’t expect.
Liv, newly divorced and without a job is newly divorced. Her ex has already moved on, even before the divorce started. Her grandmother, Grandma Edith, comes and takes her to France to get away from her life in NY and help her move on with her life.
Grandma Edith is one of my favorite characters with the exception that she is not a very loving or patient person. She loves Liv and will do anything for her now. She’s had a very hard life and much of it will come out in this book. The things she did and the guilt she fells follow her to her very last days. Despite her many failures she did a lot to help during the war. She helped many people but never felt like she truly was a good person. I thought she made a grave mistake when she thought Michel treated her inferior and like she couldn’t do anything right. I didn’t agree with some things she did but it pulled the story together to make it what it was. Also Celine and Michel were wrong in things they did. But again it was part of the storyline and set it up for what it was.
A book about love, betrayal, murder, cruelty, war, fear, sadness, loss and through many tears, this book takes you from present day to the past during WW2. To the winemaking houses and the business in town where the Germans took over and destroyed so many lives. To the resistance and the deaths of some good people. Mistakes that were made and loyalties that were broken. To the sorrows that follow when huge mistakes are made during a time when someone is hurt deeply. From the birth of a child who is part Jewish and then disappeared, to the mother who was thought dead. From public executions to the people left behind that relive these things their whole lives.
This was a very good, very touching story of such deep loss. A story of how a group of people helped save France after it was torn apart by an evil group who wanted to rule the world. How anyone can think they are so much better than another boggles my brain. How the Germans can think they are superior to the Jewish people was so cruel yet we see these things in everyday life even now. Prejudice is so awful. So horrible in fact.
Liv’s grandma Edith had a story to tell her but she had so much guilt on her that it was almost impossible for her to say the words. The ending of this book was told perfectly. It was a beautiful yet tragic story of love, loss and heartache. Death, life and moving on. For 99 years Grandmother Edith held on to a story that would change Liv’s life forever.
It’s also got a bit of a love story thrown in. Both in the 1940s and in the present. Love does not always prevail but it can. During a war it’s hard to keep the love strong. There are to many betrayals and lives lost. In the present there is a new love happening for Liv and the grandson of someone that Inès helped back when things were at their worse.
This is a book about war. A book about love. Betrayal and guilt. But it’s a book that will make you want more. It will make you appreciate the freedoms you have and hope we always have. Life was so hard during the war times. More than my mind can imagine without the help of a good book and this was an excellent book. Told in a way that makes you feel the things that are happening both in the present and the past. The past broke my heart. I shed many tears reading what happened to people during that war in that country in that house where the wine was made and the Germans took what they wanted when they wanted.
A must read by anyone who loves a good yet tragic story of love, loss and then found again in many ways. Forgiveness, moving on and finding the history of a family in a time when things go terribly wrong.
I received a copy of this book via #NetGalley and #Gallery books for my complete and honest review.
A 5 star and high recommendation from me.
GREAT review, Linda.
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog.