Wonderful story that still sticks with me a year later. The main character grows so much in this story and its gratifying to move through with her.

I've hired my time trying to decide what to write about this book. Fresh Water for Flowers is such an unique experience that reading it and then talking about it requires a good deal of thought. At times I loved this book, at times I hated it. Well rather I hated a situation or a character (or two). That may be a sign of a story well told. 

Some characters I disliked from the moment I met them, one or two I changed my mind a little as they revealed another aspect of their characters get throughout the years. I can't and won't say I ever came to like them but I did feel some modicum of sorrow for them. Others, I disliked them from the first and grew to hate. You will know to whom I refer when you have read the book. 

I am dismayed by the casual way books, especially contemporary books treat infidelity. I know, I know this is a French book with French social mores. They look at adultery in a completely different way than Americans, perhaps. I just don't see it as entertainment, it saddens me for one thing. It also seems to me that it, and it's perpetrators, are treated as if there is nothing wrong with either the affair or the people committing it. It and they are  celebrated. Sorry, can't do it, won't do it. I'm not going to stone people but I'm also not going to pretend they are good people doing good things. I'm not interested in the excuses or their so-called dilemma of what to do. You want to know what to do? Keep your pants on and keep your hands, etc. to yourself! If you are unhappy in your relationship, do something about it, don't start anything with anyone else until you are actually single. I don't understand how all of those people just disappeared for a length of time. A business trip is one thing, it is an expected, reasonable absence but how does Irene explain any of her absences? Especially when she just gets in a car without a word to anyone and disappears? It is baffling.

Enough about that. This book covers a lot of topics and went to places I could not have forseen. Each chapter begins with a quotation; most are wonderful, may are thought-provoking, a few I didn't understand. All in all, a good book that I'm sure many will enjoy. The translation is fantastic, seamless.

this was truly melancholy. But like most melancholy, there was also a strong rod of strength and threads of joy. This is very French in that it is full of affairs as life-affirming and everyone heals by being shown by someone else. But it is also very French in its celebration of the small things as Violette recovers from her bad childhood, terrible marriage and loss, amidst a cemetery (she's the keeper). Well-written and beautiful, somewhat sentimental but never maudlin

I have just finished reading Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin, translated from the French by Hildegarde Serle and I wish I had the time to start reading it all over again. This is the most beautiful book to come out of my TBR pile this year. Violette Toussaint lives in a little house in a cemetery in Bourgogne in France. She is the caretaker of this cemetery and she tends it with love and pride. Her world revolves around the tending of the graves and the care of the aggrieved. Her friends are the people who cross her path there. So far, it doesn’t seem like much of a story but it is so lyrical, so touching, so sad and so rewarding. This is the life of a young woman who goes through some of life’s most tragic events and attempts to keep her head and her heart in the right place throughout. It is a Sunday afternoon kind of read. I recommend it to all. Thank you to Europa Editions and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a beautifully written tale of loss and grief. There is so much going on in this book, and I believe readers should experience it spoiler free as they read so they can go on the emotional roller coaster that is Fresh Water for Flowers. Definitely recommend this book! 

Thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Fresh Water for Flowers in exchange for my honest review.

Fresh Water for Flowers is a beautiful, melancholic meditation on death and grief, but also on being alive and how someone can slowly build a life around loss. It is beautifully written but heartrending story that has stayed with me in the months since I read it. It is rare that I find a book that really touches me like this one did. I rarely re-read, but plan on purchasing this one to have on my shelves.

I enjoyed this story about a strong woman who finds her way when she's betrayed and left to take care of a cemetary when her husband disappears. Her perserverance and practical nature carry the day as she's supported by those who value her tenacity and optimism.

Absolutely dazzling. One of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time. Poignant and heart warming. You will find yourself slowing down so you can savor this gem of a book in small gulps. A definite must read. Pick up this winner of a book. Happy reading!

this book was poignant, lyric and magnificent. I really fell in love with the story, and the writing particularly. the character development was solid from beginning to end, and that kept me reading speedily until the end.

Fresh Water for Flowers is a wonderfully charming gem of a book. With infinite tenderness Perrin explores our most tragic and most delightful moments.

Violette is a cemetery-keeper in a small French town. Her days are quiet but full, caring for the cemetery flora and fauna and lending an ear (and a glass of port) to any visitors that may need it. In the style of Chocolat (the movie) Fresh Water for Flowers reads as a series of vignettes of Violette's days, remembrances of her past and portraits of the cemetery visitors. As Violette says, there are two confessionals in the town, one in the church, the other her cottage. These little windows into the lives and histories of the visitors—love affairs, estranged relationships, failed marriages—despite being connected by death and often profound tragedy, are so vibrant and full of love. Where this book could have easily have been morbid or depressing it instead radiated warmth and hope through every page.

Interspersed throughout are flashbacks to Violette's troubled relationship with her first love and life as a young mother prior to living and working in the cemetery. Ever so slowly the two timelines converge in alternating chapters between past and present and Violette, as a character, blooms before your eyes. With more understanding of her past you only gain hope for her future. Violette was such an easy character to fall in love with.

If you're needing something cozy and hopeful I can't recommend this book enough. Just enough mystery to propel you through the story and the perfect balance of catharsis and joy to wrap it up.

Today is your lucky day because this is a special book.France’s #1 Bestselling feel good novel of the year.Author#Valerie Perrin makes her English debut. ‘#Fresh Water for Flowers ‘ is full of French 
charm and memorable characters.
Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Casual mourners,regular visitors, and sundry colleagues-gravediggers, groundskeepers, and occasional tears mix with the coffee she offers them.Her life is lived to the rhythms of their funny,moving confidences.
Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of Julien Sole-local police chief-who insists on scattering the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger.It soon
becomes clear that Julien’s inexplicable gesture is intertwined with Violette’s own difficult past.This gets very interesting...
Thank you,
#Netgalley,#Valerie Perrin and #Europa Editions

This is a book to savor.  There is a mystery at the heart of the story, and Perrin inexorably drives towards its unraveling, but the journey is far more than plot-driven. The characters whose world we get to inhabit for a short while are rich and sympathetic.  Violette and her husband Philippe work the level crossing in a small town in France. The schedule of the trains is Violette’s schedule.  Philippe, after a brief infatuation with her, finds his satisfactions in whores, video games and his motorbike.  While they live largely separate lives, Violette, and then Violette and their daughter, seem to be mostly content.  When tragedy, followed by unemployment upend their lives, both Philippe and Violette reshape themselves to adapt.  The intertwined stories of Philippe’s parents, of Gabriel Prudent and Irène Fayolle and her son Julien, of Violette’s friends Célia and Sasha are all entrancing and each exists in a  jewel-like settings of its own.

Don’t neglect to play the music that is referenced throughout the book.  It forms the perfect soundtrack for reading this wonderfully atmospheric story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a story of love and loss – and hope. Violette, the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne, is a character I really warmed to; she is optimistic, brave, creative and caring. This is very much a character driven story, and full of original and quirky characters, such as the three gravediggers – Nono, Gaston and Elvis. But it is also a story with a mystery at the heart of it – as Julien Seul, the policeman is delving into his mother’s past, intrigued by her wish to have her ashes scattered far from her home and on the grave of a stranger.

It is also an emotional and moving story about Violette, her estranged husband, Phillippe, his miserable parents and their young daughter, Leonine. What happened to Leonine is especially tragic. But this a story full of warmth and happiness and life in the cemetery is full of surprises and joy. It is not what I expected to be and I am so pleased I’ve read it.

My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an uncorrected proof copy.

Oh my where do I begin with how much I loved this novel? Middle aged woman, French small town, characters galore, cemetery keeper, ponderings and musings. Translated from French and I have to say the translation (Hildegarde Serle) is pure perfection. Some of the sentences in this novel will stick with me. I love, love novels about life and death, grief and longing, absence and presence. If I had to define keywords for novels I like it would be those.

Usually when a book is on my Goodreads "currently reading" list for months, it's not a good sign. In this case, it was because I didn't want to finish the book too quickly - I was enjoying it too much. Fresh Water for Flowers is being released in an English translation from the original French next month (June 2020). It is simply a story of life, death and love but it's beautifully told. Violette, when we meet her, is the caretaker of a cemetery where she encounters death daily. As the book unfolds, we learn of her husband Philippe, their daughter Leonine, and the life they lived before - at a train interchange, where they were tied to the routine of the trains coming and going.

Philippe is garbage as a husband but Violette has not known a life where she would have learned she could do better. But because of their job with the trains, Violette makes her first real friend and her world becomes a little larger - and better. Slowly, the reader learns how Violette's world changed over time, how her life becomes connected to the people she meets at the cemetery and how that impacts her understanding of life and love. Simply and beautifully told, it's a book to be savored and enjoyed.

One of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. 

“My name is Violette Toussaint. I was a level-crossing keeper, now I’m a cemetery keeper”. When I first read these opening words, I wondered what I’d let myself in for. How could an author manage to write 476 pages about Violette’s two occupations? Through beautiful, poetic descriptions, large doses of humour and many, many tears shed as I followed the story. 

Violette married Philippe when she was very young. He was a ne’er do well. She knew from the beginning that he had many mistresses and would often disappear for months at a time. 

Violette’s life changed when her daughter Léonine was born. She, as an orphan brought up in care, swore that her daughter would never know the horror of being abandoned.  

Philippe’s parents – particularly his mother, treated Violette with disdain. Even refusing to acknowledge Léonine’s name – instead, they insisted on calling her Catherine, “Catherine is a much prettier name.” claimed Mother Toussaint. The relationship with her inlaws never improved – and Violette failed to stop them from not only visiting her daughter but taking her on holiday with them. 

Violette only has one true female friend, Célia. She’d met Célia when the train she and her granddaughter were travelling in, had been forced by a strike to stop at the crossing Violette manned. Thanks to Violette’s kindness – taking her into her home until the trains resumed, Célia insisted that Violette and Léonine spend their summer holidays at her chalet in the Calanque de Sormiou. These holidays, without Philippe, were the happiest times of Violette’s life. 

Tragedy struck when Léonine was seven. It changed Violette’s life forever. 

It was after this tragedy that Violette met Sasha, the cemetery keeper at Brancion. He taught Violette how to live again and survive her terrible loss. Violette and Philippe took over from him as the cemetery keepers when he retired. Philippe was meant to work alongside Violette at the graveyard but one day without saying anything went for a motorbike ride and never returned. 

When Julien Seul, a detective, arrived at her door to discuss laying his mother’s ashes on one of the graves in the graveyard they have an immediate but somewhat awkward connection. Not only does he ask for Violette’s advice on the eulogy for his mother, but he also gave his mother’s journal to Violette to read. This journal is an integral part of the story.

I can’t find sufficient words to describe this novel, superbly translated from French into English by Hildegarde Serle. Violette is a beautiful, strong, resourceful woman. I’ve come to love her, and she will live long in my heart. Then there are others like the three gravediggers Nono, Gaston and Elvis together with Father Cédric Duras made me laugh out loud and realise that humour while working with the dead is very much alive. 

I usually panic when I see that a book is over 350 pages. However, this novel could have carried on for another 1,000 pages, and I wouldn’t have grown bored. It’s filled with love, sorrow, tragedy, laughter, beautiful, vibrant characters and lots of gardening tips—a truly epic read. 

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

Fresh Water for Flowers is one of those stories that will stay with me for a long while. Beautifully written, full of emotions, and packed with great characters, this story captivated me from the beginning. A character driven tale of love, loss, and hope with a mixture of mystery that slowly develops while exploring deepest human emotions, wants, and steps to recovery from the loss of a loved one. And even though this story is heartbreaking at times, I was left with happy and positive feelings and a quiet contentment after reading its last page.

Thank you NetGalley, Europa Editions, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

An atmospheric and enthralling read, well written and poetic.
I loved what I read and it's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Sometimes in life you just need a simple story told well. This is that book. No fuss, no major stylistic exploration, this is a very good story of a woman who loses her child and her own sense of self, only to rediscover the joy of living while taking care of plants and the dead as a cemetery keeper in a small French village.

The protagonist, Violette Toussaint connects the dots between the past and the present across the narrative but it is really her husband, the anti-hero, Philiippe Toussaint, who left a strong impression on me. You see him transform from a good for nothing husband to a man who mourns his daughter’s death in private and cannot stay with his wife out of guilt. The layering of his character is excellent and kudos to Perrin for showing both genders with equal sensitivity. By no means is this a book that favour the female.

There’s also something very classic and vintage here in some of the unfulfilled love stories of Irene and Gabriel or Phillippe and Francoise. They remind you of a time when you could love and still let the person go. For those who enjoy reading a #romance, you can totally read this. It’s a more elevated romance that even a non romance reader like me could give into.

Overall, thoroughly enjoyable and recommended as an easy, comforting read. I wish I had read it in French. It’s one star short because it took a bit of time at the beginning to grab your attention. Another solid book from one of my favourite publishing houses @europaeditions.

Life can be ugly, it's important to find place where you matter. 💜

“Fresh water for Flowers” by Valérie Perrin.

This book... This book has made me cry, rise my brow, smile, hate, love, feel compassion, feel vast spectre of emotions. This book is about life, death, regrets, it’s about people living in their own bubble of tragedy and ways they deal with it. It shows people that we are afraid the most, are often the nicest people. It shows all the ugly aspects of love, need, lust. It’s a story about friendship, true friendship without boundaries, where friend is the only person who can get you out of the abyss of your own darkness. 

🥀 The plot of the story: Violette has been alone all her life, her parents left her at her birth, adoption families were turning away from her. One day she meets Philippe Toussaint, and he changes her life, she gets loved first time, but is it love? Violette ends up a cemetery keeper, where first time in her life she finds peace within herself until one day local police chef Julien, he’s looking for a grave of a man that turns out to be his mother’s one time lover. And his mother’s covert love story is twined with Violette’s secret past. 

It’s an addictive book, once you start you can’t out it down. Author is keeping intrigue revealing one thing at the time. I haven’t read a book that would cause so many emotions for a very long time... 

I would recommend this book to everyone. Because I believe that everyone could find something in there that would hook them up. Love story? Detective? Crime? Drama? 

🌱 It’s definitely 5/5 🌟. No wonder this book has been number one in France. It’s brilliant!

Thank you Netgalley and Europa editions for this ARC on exchange for my honest opinion.