Hardback: 386 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Fiction
Publisher: Orion Fiction 2025
Source: Tywyn Public Library
Review Quote: 'Romantic, moving and sensual, another delightful novel from one of my favourite authors' Santa Montefiore
First Sentences: It sits there in the shade of the cypress tree, the Chateau Villette, hiding from the heat of the mid-afternoon sun.
My Opinion: Veronica Henry is known for her escapist romantic, realistic and relatable stories. A prolific author she has 62 titles currently listed on Amazon. As this is only the second of her books that I have read I cannot count myself as a fan yet!
Set in two different decades to tell the protagonists individual stories we are transported to Château Villette. Lismay and Piers are the current owners but now in their seventies are starting to find that running such a beautiful place is rather hard work for them. Their god-daughter Connie comes to the rescue. Great timing for her, as a fifty something woman with marital problems causing her depression, life at the Chateau is just what she needs, to get her life back on track.
Recommended to anyone that loves France and enjoys a feel good read. I was certainly transported and found it to be perfect escapism from this current grey weather.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
Over the last few months, Connie's whole world has fallen apart. Her husband's run off with an older woman, the magazine she works for has gone bust and she's having to sell the family home. So when her beloved godmother, Lismay, begs her to help run the beautiful Château Villette, it couldn't come at a better time...
No one knows the château quite like Connie. She spent a blissful summer there in her twenties, learning to cook delicious French food for the guests, ironing the lavender-scented sheets - and trying to resist the very handsome neighbour, Remy.
As soon as she arrives, it's clear that the château is close to crumbling and Connie knows she's going to have her work cut out. Could it be the fresh start she didn't even know she needed - and will she find a way to save the château, before it's too late?
Previous Review: Thirty Days in Paris
Author Profile and Photo From Amazon:
In the authors own words:
I'm Veronica - otherwise known as Ronnie - and I'm delighted you've found your way here!
I love to take my readers somewhere they might like to be, whether a gorgeous house in the countryside or a seaside clifftop; a trip to Paris or on board the Orient Express. There, my characters go through the trials and tribulations of everyday life, embroiled in situations and dilemmas we can all relate to. And of course at the heart of my writing is love. All kinds of love, not just romantic: the love of friends and family, or a place, or a passion (food, wine and books, in my case . . .)
I also live by the sea and head to the beach every day with my dog Zelda. I love discovering new restaurants, and do a bit of sea swimming to offset the calories. I love a bit of upcycling too - never happier than when painting a set of bookshelves with a tin of Farrow and Ball.
My biggest writing influences are HE Bates, Nancy Mitford, Jilly Cooper and any book that has a big rambling house and an eccentric family.
Photograph and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:
Amazon Author Page. Goodreads Author Page. Official Author Website
Instagram Profile. Facebook Profile Twitter - Veronica Henry