A World War II story of female friendship, longing and sacrifice through war and loss, bringing together the present and the past.
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.
Kirsty Manning has become one of my favourite authors – I really love her novels. Her last book, The Lost Jewels was a riveting tale of thievery, sacrifice and hope through the generations of one family. She took a fascinating true story about the world’s greatest collection of Elizabethan and early Stuart jewellery, known as the Cheapside Hoard, and turned it into a highly enjoyable read.
When you’re onto a good thing, stick to it. Here, Manning has done it again. Inspired by the 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 merges fact with fiction and the result is simply brilliant storytelling.
The story opens in 1939, on the glamorous Cote D’Azur and a party teeming with the who’s who of high society, when a parlour game gone wrong ends in the death of an American socialite, and the hostess’ maid, Margot, is charged with the murder, and finds herself sharing a cell with Josephine.
Shifting between past and present, we follow modern day Evie whose late husband inherited Josephine’s villa. Now Evie and her son Hugo find themselves there, unravelling a decades old mystery.
The French Gift is historical fiction at its best. Manning doesn’t put a foot wrong, from the polished prose and compelling characters, to the fabulous sense of place that imbues this read. A glorious escape from reality, this will captivate readers from the beginning to the unforgettable, surprising end.
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