Dominique Marny

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review and rated it 3 out of 5 Stars.

Is there anything more beautiful than the French countryside? I certainly don’t think so based on Dominique Marny’s descriptions and cover for In the Shade of the Almond Trees. A book set during the period between the World Wars in Europe, In the Shade of the Almond Trees focuses on one family’s quest to restore their farm and move on after the death of their husband and father in the trenches. Filled with colorful characters, the beauty of the countryside, the changing social structures and a young woman’s discovery of love, this is a book romance lovers will enjoy.

Ms. Marny does a good job introducing the reader to the Barthelemy family as they begin moving on after the war. Living at Restanques, a large and once very prosperous estate, the family now consists of Martha, the family matriarch who thinks her life is over because of her husband’s death, Jeanne, the family’s only daughter, who is determined to keep their creditors at bay and make the farm successful again and Laurent, the family’s only son whose dreams of traveling the world are drawing him away.

While the story mostly focuses on Jeanne’s efforts to restore the farm and her transition into adulthood, we do get to know both her mother and brother and their strengths and weaknesses. I easily connected with Jeanne but had difficulty liking her mother and brother, who seemed only to think of themselves. Jeanne is hard working, level headed, and really devoted to her family’s heritage through her love of the land. She was willing to do what had to be done in order to keep her family financially afloat. Something her mother and brother either couldn’t or didn’t want to understand or really help with.

While it did take a little while to get used to Ms. Marny’s voice as an author, the story is told in omnipresent third person, I did eventually get drawn in and fell in love with both Jeanne and the French countryside. While I would have liked to dip further into Jeanne’s mind, and the thoughts of her mother and brother, this form of storytelling’s appeal is that you don’t wallow in too much emotional angst. I also think it affected the story’s flow and pace, which was occasionally slow and a little difficult to follow – although that could have been a result of the story’s translation from French to English.

Will Jeanne and her family manage to keep Restanques and restore it to its pre-war prosperity? Will Jeanne get the chance to discover true love as she works selflessly to restore her family’s financial position? You’ll have to read In the Shade of the Almond Trees to find out. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Ms. Marny’s work.… (altro)

*I received this book for free from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.*

I just finished this wonderful book with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. It takes place in France, starting in the years prior to WWII and ending in the 1980's. It's about a young girl, Anne, and her family, and Alexis, her brother's friend, whom Anne has loved since she was 9 and Alexis 11. They last see each other in the early days of the war, when people started leaving Paris for the safety of the country, and don't meet again until both are adults and married with children. Anne works in an art gallery and Alexis is a teacher, and they become reacquainted all over again and fall in love. How they deal with it, or not, considering their families, is what the book is about.

I loved the writing, the characters, the dialogue, the descriptions, and everything about this lovely book. I am not judgmental about their affair because I know the details surrounding it, and I was happy for them. Also, I learned a lot about the art world as a bonus! Although the ending was sad, it was also lovely when Anne meets Guillaume, Alexis' son.

The negatives in this book were the title(did not fit the story), the unrealistic aspect of Anne's love for Alexis since she was 9 and expecting it to last forever, and her reaction to Alexis when he told her about his wife's pregnancy. I felt sorry for Anne's husband, Francois, who she genuinely was fond of until Alexis came back into her life. He was a good husband to her, genuinely loved her and his girls, was a good husband and provider, and they enjoyed being with each other. How she was willing to throw this all aside so quickly was a tad unrealistic, I thought, and not fair to him or their daughters. But I still loved Anne and Alexis' love story and did want them to be together, just not for their families to be disrupted as well.

I highly recommend this book!… (altro)