April 1, 2020
French bestseller Perrin makes her English-language debut in an atmospheric novel rife with adulterous romances, bad marriages, mysterious deaths, and lots of burials. The frequent burials are because narrator Violette Toussaint is a cemetery keeper at the Brancion-en-Chalon cemetery in Burgundy. She arrived there some 20 years ago with no-good husband Philippe, a philanderer and spoiled mama's boy who did her a favor by disappearing shortly after they took up the post. Except Philippe turns out to be living 100 kilometers away with another woman, she learns from Julien Seul, a handsome detective who came to the cemetery because his recently deceased mother, Ir�ne, had inexplicably decreed that her ashes be placed on the grave of a man buried there who was, needless to say, not her husband. At first, Perrin unspools her plot in a leisurely manner, intertwining Violette's recollections of her trying marriage, the records she keeps of what was done and said at individual gravesides (touching testimonies to the infinite varieties of loss and grief), and amusing portraits of the eccentric cemetery staff. Once Julien enters to disrupt Violette's neatly ordered world, the author augments an already busy narrative with plot strands concerning Ir�ne's decadeslong affair, the growing attraction between her son and the cemetery keeper, the tragic story of the Toussaints' daughter, and a chorus of new voices that soften our view of the not-quite-as-rotten-as-he-seemed Philippe. It's a lot for one book, and the novel does sometimes falter under its own weight, but Perrin's eye is so compassionate, her characters so many-faceted, and the various mysteries she poses so intriguing that most readers will happily go along for the long ride toward a pleasingly romantic conclusion tempered by one last funeral. Overstuffed, at times rambling, but colorful and highly enjoyable and pulled together by an engaging narrator.
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May 25, 2020
Perrin’s English-language debut is a tender and poignant exploration of love, loss, and redemption. Violette Toussaint, a middle-aged cemetery keeper, narrates the events that lead up to her husband leaving her. An orphan who survived a chaotic childhood, Violette taught herself to read and married the well-off, older Phillipe Toussaint in 1986, when Violette was 18. After a year, Violette grows distant after she senses Phillipe’s infidelity. When their jobs on the railway become automated, they move to Brancion-en-Chalon to become cemetery keepers. After a month, Phillipe leaves and doesn’t return, leaving Violette to develop a pleasant routine entertaining visitors with food and wine in the cemetery’s bucolic lodge. When Julien Seul, a detective, shows up to bury his mother, Violette is unnerved by how much he knows about her life. Perrin plaits the novel with the complex backstories of Violette, Phillipe, Julien, and Julien’s mother and her lover. While the storylines sometimes feel as if they’re competing with one another and tamp down the tension, Perrin keeps the reader engaged with a gradual payout of secrets that each character tries to protect. Perrin is adept at creating a flawed, amiable cast, and Violette is a delightfully engaging narrator. This enchanting indulgence in nature, drink, food, and friends is worth a look.
June 1, 2020
Violette Toussaint is the caretaker of a cemetery in a small French village. At middle-age, she lives comfortably in solitude, as her philandering husband Philippe left years ago. Her contentment is disrupted when detective Julien Seul turns up with an unusual request?to inter his mother's ashes on the grave of her longtime lover?as well as an unexpected revelation?he knows where Philippe has been living. Eager to get a divorce, Violette contacts him, stirring up reminders of their troubled and tragic past. Perrin reveals Violette's personal history in alternating chapters, showing the reader the path that led her to her solitary and contemplative life, as well as the reasons why Philippe left. Serle's translation is fluid and rich in detail, capturing Violette's unique perspective and her vivid inner life. The story is full of unexpected turns and painful revelations, but there are joyful moments interspersed throughout as well. There's no pat, happy ending here, but a finale full of contentment and hope that fits with the tone of the story. Fans of Elizabeth Berg will enjoy this thoughtful take on the inner life of an unforgettable woman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)