The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier

I love any book that has to do with letters or books. This one did not disappoint. It was a great historical fiction.

I really enjoyed this book, the charcacter descriptions were heartbreaking and so evocative of Paris, I could almost imagine myself there. I felt the sections dated to World War One were by far the strongest, the author has clearly done her research. The modern sections I felt were somewhat weaker and I found myself skim reading them towards the end. I would highly recommend this book. A thoroughly beautiful, timeless romance.

The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier is a story about strata. Layers. In this historical novel based on fact, we see Pauline Benda in 1913/1914 as a young woman in love with Henri Fournier, a young Frenchman who has recently published his first novel. Le Grand Meaulnes is already making waves in the literary world. Only 27 years old, Henri is already a lieutenant in the French Military. As Europe gears up for The Great War both Henri and Pauline know that he will be called up with the first rank of soldiers. Pauline, an actress working under the name of Madame Simone, is divorced and remarried when she meets Henri. For them both it is a passionate affair with the added intensity of the approaching war. Henri has begun his second novel, though he is having problems with it over and above finding time to write. Henri's Catholic family, especially his sister Isabelle, find Pauline an unsuitable mate for Henri, although his Mother comes to rely on Pauline after Henri and his troops ship out.

In 1975 a young English journalist, Sebastian Fowler, finds himself compelled to re-read Le Grand Meaulnes yet again, and decides to research Henri Fournier with the idea of writing a biography. To his surprise he finds that Madame Simone - Pauline Benda - is still alive and living in Paris. She is 98 years old but still sharp and she agrees to see him. On first meeting, Pauline is fairly sure she can answer a few questions and have him on his way by lunch. Or maybe she will feed him lunch before she sends him on his way. But as they find common ground and become friends, the interviews about her time with Henri become something they both look forward to, and Pauline feels she can open her home - but not her wartime correspondence - to Seb as she trusts him to draw a true picture of Henri and his time. And she passes on to him an important life lesson. Don't hesitate to tell the people you love that they have your heart. Weeks later when he returns to London, Seb proposes to Annie, the woman he loves, despite the fact that she is now dating his best friend.

In 2013 shortly after losing Annie, his wife of forty years, Seb receives an email from Isabelle de Giovanni, the granddaughter of Henri's sister Isabelle. She has traced him through his publisher. Isabelle has found some papers in her family home in rural France that she feels he, who did an interesting and sympathetic biography of her great uncle, might have an interest in. There are what appear to be parts of an unfinished, unpublished novel and some letters. And though he is heartbroken and numb, the very idea of escaping the endless winter and his home without Annie makes him jump at the chance of a trip to rural France just as soon as his teaching commitment ends in June.

France is lovely. Isabelle is lovely. And Pauline's advice of long ago is still an important life lesson.

This is an excellent look into the effects of war and peace on society, both then and now. It is an excellent look into the costs of war. And it is a novel I am glad to have read, that I can happily recommend to friends and family.

I received an electronic copy of this historical novel based on fact from Netgalley, Rosalind Brackenbury, and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

"What do you do when you’ve lost the love of your life?

Seb Fowler has arrived in Paris to research his literary idol, Henri Fournier. It begins with an interview granted by a woman whose affair with the celebrated writer trails back to World War I. The enchanting Pauline is fragile, but her memories are alive—those of an illicit passion, of the chances she took and never regretted, and of the twists of fate that defined her unforgettable love story.

Through Pauline’s love letters, her secrets, and a lost Fournier manuscript, Seb will come to learn so much more—about Pauline, Henri, and himself. For Seb, every moment of Pauline’s past proves to be more inspiring than he could have imagined. She’s given him the courage to grab hold of whatever life offers, to cherish each risk, and to pursue love in his life.

Intimately epic, The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier spans generations to explore every beautiful mystery of falling in love, being in love, and losing a love—and, most important, daring to love again and discovering just how resilient the human heart can be."

I love mysteries in the past and stories of lost love!