Friendship and Sacrifice: Read an Extract From The French Gift by Kirsty Manning

Friendship and Sacrifice: Read an Extract From The French Gift by Kirsty Manning

VILLA SANARY, CÔTE D’AZUR, 14 JULY 1939

The grand marble foyer was bursting with colour and excited conversation. Politicians, artists, writers, socialites and local French gentry sipped champagne and martinis, and greeted each other with kisses to each cheek, merry backslaps and firm handshakes. A five-piece jazz band played in the corner, and the warm summer air was thick with expensive perfume, pollen and a hint of cigar smoke.

In the simple uniform of a housemaid, Margot Bisset squeezed through the crowd, slipping past women in drop-waist sequinned gowns and sheer silk sheaths, and men in tailored tuxedos. Her job for this first part of the evening was to carry a cup of incense among the guests, filling the room with wafts of cloves and orange oil…

Read the extract here…

Reviews

A Glorious Escape: Read our Review of The French Gift by Kirsty Manning

Review | Our Review

30 March 2021

A Glorious Escape: Read our Review of The French Gift by Kirsty Manning

    Read Our Q&A with The French Gift Author Kirsty Manning

    Review | Author Related

    29 March 2021

    Read Our Q&A with The French Gift Author Kirsty Manning

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              Publisher details

              The French Gift
              Author
              Kirsty Manning
              Publisher
              Allen & Unwin
              Genre
              Fiction
              Released
              30 March, 2021
              ISBN
              9781760528096

              Synopsis

              A forgotten manuscript threatens to unravel the past... Fresnes Prison, 1940: Margot Bisset, a former maid from the Riviera, finds herself in a prison cell with writer and French Resistance fighter, Josephine Murant. Together, they are transferred to a work camp in Germany, where the secrets they share will bind them for generations to come. Present-day Paris: Evie Black lives above her botanical bookshop with her teenage son, Hugo. Nursing a broken heart, Evie receives an unexpected letter; she clutches at an opportunity to spend a magical summer with Hugo on the Cote d'Azur. It's here, on the Riviera, that the past envelops them and Evie attempts to unravel the official story of a famous novelist. If she succeeds, a murder from a lifetime ago may be solved. Inspired by a true story of iconic French Resistance fighter, Agnes Humbert, whose secret journal shed light on a little-known aspect of World War II, The French Gift will captivate readers from beginning to unforgettable end.
              Kirsty Manning
              About the author

              Kirsty Manning

              Kirsty Manning grew up in northern New South Wales. A country girl with wanderlust, her travels and studies have taken her through most of Europe, the east and west coasts of the United States and pockets of Asia.Kirsty's first novel was the enchanting The Midsummer Garden published in 2017. The Jade Lily, compelling and pacey, is her second book.Kirsty is a partner in the award-winning Melbourne wine bar Bellota, and the Prince Wine Store in Sydney and Melbourne. She lives with her husband and three children amid an old chestnut grove in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria.

              Books by Kirsty Manning

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