Ellie Carver races
to the nursing home afraid that her grandmother, an Alzheimer’s
patient, is dying. She’s surprised to find her grandmother, Lady
Vi, lucid and standing by a window. Lady Vi surprises Ellie by
telling her of a hidden castle in the Loire Valley where the French
Resistance met during WWII. Feeling a strong kinship with the story,
Ellie heads for France to find the castle known as Sleeping Beauty
Castle hoping to learn more about her grandmother before she loses
her.
During the French
Revolution, Avaline, a member of the nobility, is at the Sleeping
Beauty Castle where her engagement to the son of the Duc et Vivay is
to be announced. Before she even meets her fiance, the castle is
attacked by angry villagers and nearly destroyed.
Lady Vi, working
with British Intelligence during WWII, is nearly killed by the
Germans while undercover in France. She escapes and makes her way to
the Loire Valley where she joins the resistance using the castle as
headquarters.
Although told from
the perspective of three women in different generations, this is in
some ways the story of the castle that survives through several
attempts to destroy it. The history surrounding each of the three
time periods from the French Revolution, to WWII, and the present day
is well researched. However, the author doesn’t use the book as a
history lesson. It is part of the background.
Descriptions of the
Loire Valley, scenery, food, and the vineyards draw you into the
story and form a background to each time period. All three women are
strong characters, although I thought Ellie was the weakest.
Sometimes it’s difficult to switch time periods in a novel with so
many characters and stories, but the author did a good job making
each story come alive.
If you enjoy
historical fiction, I highly recommend this book. It’s hard to put
down.
I received this book
from Booklook Bloggers for this review.
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