This post is being done in October though it will appear on the blog in December. I have just returned from Melbourne and wanted something light to read, trying to cope with tiredness and jetlag! This was the ideal pick up.
Patricia Sands's book is not just a novel but also about a woman recovering from a divorce, after an uneventful 22 year old marriage. It is also a travelogue of Provence and what a travelogue it turned out to be. The stories blend beautifully and one is carried on Katherine's story and to cheer her on and support her in her new adventures.
The descriptions were fabulous. You want to go immediately to Antibes, to Monaco and to Provence. You want to savour the bread, the wine and specially the cheeses. Everything from the skies to the vineyards seem picturesque. The roads, the buildings - especially the buildings caught my interest very much. Something modern is "only five hundred years old". Such a nice way of describing something!!! I cannot visualize a building standing after a hundred years and to know that houses are being actually lived in after such a long period of time and especially very poignant was that lots of houses have been in a family for several generations.
Katherine was 55 years at the time of her divorce. Starting anew at any age after a divorce must be traumatic. Starting at 55 with no children and only an aged mother as support would be particularly hard. Her husband walked out on her on their 22nd anniversary leaving her a bouquet of flowers which he did every year and a note. The story with all its emotions, frustrations, anger and finally finding peace was a very satisfying story for me.
This book was sent to me by Netgalley via Lake Union Publishing.
Mystica, occasionally, I read something offbeat and this sounds like a good choice for reading out of my comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteHer husband, grr, not nice
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a nice change of pace.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read.
ReplyDelete