Lavendelhaven
Title: The Lavender Garden
Author: Lucinda Riley
Published in English: 2012
Dansk titel: Lavendelhaven
Dansk Udgivelsesår: 2014
Sideantal: 555
Forlag: Turbulenz
ISBN: 978-8771480832
Finished Reading: April 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction & Romance
Stars: 4
This is my personal review without spoilers of the actual plot.
An aristocratic French family, a legendary château, and buried secrets with the power to destroy two generations torn between duty and desire.
La Côte d’Azur, 1998: In the sun-dappled south of France, Emilie de la Martinières, the last of her gilded line, inherits her childhood home, a magnificent château and vineyard. With the property comes a mountain of debt—and almost as many questions . . .
Paris, 1944: A bright, young British office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is sent undercover to Paris to be part of Churchill’s Special Operations Executive during the climax of the Nazi occupation. Separated from her contacts in the Resistance, she soon stumbles into the heart of a prominent family who regularly entertain elite members of the German military even as they plot to liberate France. But in a city rife with collaborators and rebels, Constance’s most difficult decision may be determining whom to trust with her heart.
As Emilie discovers what really happened to her family during the war and finds a connection to Constance much closer than she suspects, the château itself may provide the clues that unlock the mysteries of her past, present, and future. Here is a dazzling novel of intrigue and passion from one of the world’s most beloved storytellers.
I was very frustrated with our main character Emilie and it nearly destroyed my reading experience, I was about to quit the book at a certain point since I was frustrated with her to a point of madness.
Nevertheless, as always Lucinda Riley has a talent when it comes to merging present and past stories together into a neat little story and even though it took me some time getting into this novel I ended up liking it in the end.
The relationship that forms between the two main characters seemed artificial and contrived and I thought that, this was so far from her Seven Sisters Series I nearly cried, but it turned out there was method in her madness and it all came together later in the novel. Apparently, Riley never disappoints. So if you, like me, have issues in the beginning, just know, it becomes so much better!
In Riley’s other books I’ve always been extremely satisfied with her persona build, but in this case, I don’t feel a connection to any of the characters. The only character I felt a little sympathy toward was Alex, seemed he was the only one whom stood out in a positive way, whilst Sebastian had me yelling and nearly breaking shit.
If you like Kate Morton or perhaps other books by Lucinda Riley, I would say give it a go really. It contains some of the magic from her lovely series and is worth a read on a gray day.