Cady Drake, a
photographer, never had a family and doesn’t know how families
behave. The only person she trusted, Maxine, is dead and Cady doesn’t
know how to go on. Maxine taught Cady how to restore antiques. Now
Maxine’s store is all Cady has left. In an angry outburst, Cady
kicks her antique carousel figure, a rabbit she’s named Gus. Gus
breaks, and inside Cady finds a photograph and a mysterious note.
Through the help of
her friend Olivia, she gets an assignment to photograph carousels in
France. Although undecided at first, she goes and starts the
adventure of her life, tracking down the mysterious carousel located
at a crumbling chateau in Provence.
For me, the most
interesting part of the book was learning about carousels and the
fantastic animals carved by Gustave Bayol, a master carver, who had a
studio where many of the carousel animals were carved. I also enjoyed
the descriptions of France, particularly Provence.
The book has an
interesting theme about how difficult it was for a woman to be
accepted in the 1900s by a studio like Bayol’s. One of the main
characters wants desperately to be a carver, but it’s a difficult
road for a woman to succeed.
The book is broken
up into relatively short chapters. Some take place in the 1900s,
others follow Cady in the present day. Although I often find books
written with two time lines difficult to get into, I enjoyed this
one. Both stories were equally interesting.
If you enjoy stories
with family secrets, you may like this book.
I received this book
from Net Galley for this review.
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