Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by nancyadair
A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi
5.0
France’s best-selling novelist Virginie Grimaldi makes her American debut in A Good Life, the story of two devoted sisters who grew up with a unstable mother.
Emma dedicated her life to protecting her younger sister Agathe, sheltering her from the worst of their mother’s fits of anger and frequent visits to rehab. Summers at their beloved grandmother’s house near the ocean offered the girls a respite, a place where they knew a love that didn’t hurt.
Emma grew up too fast, had to be serious and reliable, a counterbalance to Agathe’s fits of depression and manic episodes. It wore Emma out, and she had to choose to put her own well being and own life first. After years estranged, the sisters come together for a last vacation at their grandmother’s house. For their beloved grandmother has passed and the house has been sold.
Over the week, the woman swim and remember, discover secrets, and reestablish their bond. The back story reveals a history of pain and loss that has marked them.
Told in the woman’s voices in their past and the present, their story of dedication and struggle is moving and life affirming, with a ending that requires a handkerchief. In the end, Emma considers if hers was a good life. And we will respond with a resounding “yes”.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
Emma dedicated her life to protecting her younger sister Agathe, sheltering her from the worst of their mother’s fits of anger and frequent visits to rehab. Summers at their beloved grandmother’s house near the ocean offered the girls a respite, a place where they knew a love that didn’t hurt.
Emma grew up too fast, had to be serious and reliable, a counterbalance to Agathe’s fits of depression and manic episodes. It wore Emma out, and she had to choose to put her own well being and own life first. After years estranged, the sisters come together for a last vacation at their grandmother’s house. For their beloved grandmother has passed and the house has been sold.
Over the week, the woman swim and remember, discover secrets, and reestablish their bond. The back story reveals a history of pain and loss that has marked them.
Told in the woman’s voices in their past and the present, their story of dedication and struggle is moving and life affirming, with a ending that requires a handkerchief. In the end, Emma considers if hers was a good life. And we will respond with a resounding “yes”.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.