This book grabbed my interest. It focuses on 2 sisters that are working together to renovate a house on an island off the coast of Brittany. Natalie, the oldest, is struggling to write a romantic novel about her life with her boyfriend.. He leaves her and she is left with no money so there is now way she can finish the project. Her sister Alex shows up expectantly and offers to help. There are flashbacks of WII and a separate story that weaves its way into the one with the sisters.

Natalie Morgen made a name for herself after finding a new life in Paris. She falls in love with a chef, and they move to his ancestral home, a tiny fishing village off the coast of Brittany. But then he leaves, leaving her in the middle of renovating the guesthouse they planned to open for business. Natalie is broke and struggling, when her sister, Alex, shows up. As the sisters work together to save the guesthouse and Natalie's career, they start to heal from past issues.

During World War II, every man of fighting age on the island fled to England to join the Free French forces. The women and children were left on their own. And then the German troops arrived and stayed for several years.

As with many old houses, there are nooks and crannies, some holding secrets. Natalie and Alex unearth an old cookbook in a hidden cupboard. They find handwritten recipes with cryptic notes beside the recipes. With the help of locals, the sisters begin to unravel the relationship between Violette, a young islander whose family ran the guesthouse during WWII, and Rainier, a German military customs official with secrets of his own.

What an interesting story! Two sisters are renovating a guest house on an island off the coast of Brittany. Natalie, the oldest, is struggling to write a romantic novel about her life with her boyfriend chef. He leaves her before the project is finished. She has no money and no hope of finishing this project. Her sister Alex shows up expectantly and offers to help. Then the story flashes back to World War II and Violet who was living on this same island. When all the men including Violet's husband leave to fight in the war, German soldiers move in. Suspenseful and well written story.

Not really enthusiastic about this book. I found the history of the island and the German occupation during WWII interesting but I did not particularly care for the characters. I would have liked more background on the two sisters in the present, one got a feeling why they became who they were, but I would had like to learn more about their parents(especially the father.). I had a feeling how the book would end (and I was right). Quick read for me, but I don't know whether to recommend it.

Natalie Morgan finds herself alone and penniless in a ramshackle guesthouse in small fishing village in Brittany when her fiancee dumps her. Help arrives from an unexpected form of her sister, Alex. Despite a difficult and harrowing childhood, the two decide to work together to restore the guesthouse to open as a business. The region has rich and powerful history, as the sisters discover when they find an old cookbook that contains more than recipes.