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Summary
Summary
The first new novel in four years from the beloved superstar author of Sarah's Key , a heartbreaking and uplifting story of family secrets and devastating disaster, set against a Paris backdrop, fraught with revelations, and resolutions.
"An absorbing tale of family secrets from the author of Sarah's Key ." - People magazine
"Hypnotic, passionate, ominous and tender--unforgettable." --Jenna Blum, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Those Who Save Us
Linden Malegarde has come home to Paris from the United States. It has been years since the whole family was all together. Now the Malegarde family is gathering for Paul, Linden's father's 70th birthday.
Each member of the Malegarde family is on edge, holding their breath, afraid one wrong move will shatter their delicate harmony. Paul, the quiet patriarch, an internationally-renowned arborist obsessed with his trees and little else, has always had an uneasy relationship with his son. Lauren, his American wife, is determined that the weekend celebration will be a success. Tilia, Linden's blunt older sister, projects an air of false fulfillment. And Linden himself, the youngest, uncomfortable in his own skin, never quite at home no matter where he lives--an American in France and a Frenchman in the U.S.--still fears that, despite his hard-won success as a celebrated photographer, he will always be a disappointment to his parents.
Their hidden fears and secrets slowly unravel as the City of Light undergoes a stunning natural disaster, and the Seine bursts its banks and floods the city. All members of the family will have to fight to keep their unity against tragic circumstances. In this profound and intense novel of love and redemption, de Rosnay demonstrates all of her writer's skills both as an incredible storyteller but also as a soul seeker.
Author Notes
Tatiana de Rosnay was born September 28th, 1961 near Paris. Her father is French scientist Joël de Rosnay, her grandfather was painter Gaëtan de Rosnay and her great-grandmother was Russian actress Natalia Rachewskïa, director of the Leningrad Pushkin Theatre from 1925 to 1949.
Tatiana was raised in Paris and then in Boston. She moved to England in the early 80's and obtained a Bachelor's degree in English literature at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. When she returned to Paris, Tatiana became press attaché for Christie's and then Paris Editor for Vanity Fair magazine till 1993.
Since 1992, Tatiana has published eight novels in France. Sarah's Key, her first novel written in English, sold over 400,000 copies worldwide. Her novels also include A Secret Kept and The House I loved.
Tatiana works as a journalist for French ELLE and is literary critic for Psychologies Magazine and the Journal du Dimanche.
In 2014 her title, The Other Story, made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The triumphant 11th novel from de Rosnay (Sarah's Key) follows the unraveling of long pent-up frustrations within the Malegarde family against the backdrop of a natural disaster. Linden Malegarde, a Franco-American photographer, travels to Paris to celebrate the 70th birthday of his father, Paul. But when Paul suffers a stroke and is hospitalized, Linden decides to stay indefinitely. As Paul's health ebbs, the river Seine floods the city, relentlessly rising due to driving rain. For Linden, the Paris he knows so well becomes "hardly identifiable, yet painfully familiar," paralleling his own feelings and memories of his adolescence. Fearing more of the rejection and bigotry he's experienced throughout his life, Linden, who is in his late 30s, has yet to come out as gay to his father or introduce him to his longtime partner, Sacha. During the days of unexpectedly close quarters with his father, mother, and sister, Linden begins to open up and discovers that each family member has secrets and emotional wounds just as intense as his own. Throughout, de Rosnay stokes the Malegardes' histories with raw and powerful reminisces and gorgeous descriptions. This is an emotional tour de force and a thoughtful, deliberate examination of personal tragedy and the possibility of redemption. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A novel of Paris, family secrets, and catastrophic weather, from Franco-British author de Rosnay.In Paris, the severity of flooding is traditionally measured by how close the waters of the Seine come to submerging the statue of a colonial soldier near the Pont de l'Alma. In de Rosnay's (Manderley Forever, 2017, etc.) latest novel, the river rises to the statue's waist and beyond, disrupting the weekend plans of the Malegarde family. Paul, an eminent arborist; his wife, Lauren, an American who toured Europe in the 1970s with her sister, Candice, and never left; their son, Linden, a world-renowned photographer; and daughter, Tilia, a not-so-renowned painter, meet at a hotel to celebrate Paul's 70th birthday. Rain has been unusually constant even for January (presumably 2018). Linden, whose perspective dominates, is genteelly estranged from his parents and sister. His mother could never accept his gayness, which is why he left his father's ancestral village to spend his adolescence living with Tante Candice in her 15th arrondissement apartment. Paul always reserved his most fervent emotions for trees. He suffers a stroke at his birthday dinner and is hospitalized. In view of his saintliness, it seems excessive for de Rosnay to silence him this way, with occasional cryptic diary entries and a baffling obsession with David Bowie as the only clues to his character. The family reunion is further complicated when Lauren develops pneumonia, the trauma underlying Tilia's hospital phobia surfaces, her drunken husband comes to town, and the tragedy of Candice's last days is revealed. The evocation of Paris is worthy of Modiano, and de Rosnay's projection of the city's worst deluge since 1910 is not only horrifying, but timely after the actual Seine floods of January 2018. However, the novel is long on rumination and summary, short on dialogue and forward momentum. The timing of the personal revelations seems arbitrary or, at best, anticlimactic.The weather and Paris are the main attractions here, not the people. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The author of the best-selling WWII-era novel Sarah's Key (2007) offers up an equally emotional contemporary tale of a family in turmoil. Linden Malegarde has returned to Paris for his father's seventieth birthday celebration. But when Linden arrives, no one and nothing is festive. His father, Paul, seems withdrawn; his mother, Lauren, is ill; and his older sister, Tilia, is on edge. To make matters worse, the Seine is on the verge of flooding due to heavy, unrelenting rain. And then Paul has a massive stroke, forcing Linden to fully confront his complicated feelings about his family and their feelings about his sexuality. The Malegardes are so beset by tragedy Tilia is still haunted by the car accident years ago that she alone survived while her friends perished, and Linden's aunt died under heartbreaking circumstances that their sorrow threatens to overwhelm the story even more than the dire flood waters besieging Paris. De Rosnay's many fans, and all who embrace tearful tales, will enjoy the slow unraveling of the complex troubles and secrets of the Malegarde family.--Kristine Huntley Copyright 2018 Booklist
