From the Orange Prize shortlisted author of GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD, an entrancing novel about a young French girl and the English family who invade her Alpine village and her life.
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Summary
From the Orange Prize shortlisted author of GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD, an entrancing novel about a young French girl and the English family who invade her Alpine village and her life.
Description
In June 1914, Sir Anthony Valentine, a keen mountaineer, arrives with his family to spend the summer in their chalet, high in the French Alps. There, for the first time, fourteen-year-old foundling Mathilde starts work as one of the 'uglies' - village girls employed as servants and picked, it is believed, to ensure they don't catch Sir Anthony's roving eye.
For Mathilde it is the start of a life-long entanglement with les anglais - strange, exciting people, far removed from the hard grind of farming. Except she soon finds the Valentines are less carefree than they appear, with a curiously absent daughter no one talks about. It will be decades - disrupted by war, accidents and a cruel betrayal - before Mathilde discovers the key to the mystery. And in 1976, the year Sir Anthony's great-great grandson comes to visit, she must decide whether to use it. Vividly evoking the dramatic landscape that so enthrals the Valentines, this deeply involving, intriguing novel tells the story of an English family through the generations and a memorable French woman, whose lives seem worlds apart yet which become inextricably connected.Critic Reviews
“Praise for GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD: Startlingly assured, poetic and engaging - GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD introduces a new voice, one which I have no doubt we will be hearing much more of; I read it in two sittings, and am already looking forward to her next work. - Patrick McCabeThere is tenderness, joy, romance (not to mention inventive sex) and heartbreak. The language is tricksy, the subject disturbing. But this book is energetic, passionate and not easily forgotten. - Sunday TimesGrace's story from child to adult, told to stunning effect. Beautifully written, funny, sad and unforgettable, a love story like no other, it could be your book of the year. - ChoiceFar more inspiring than a hundred feel-good tomes - Independent, Books of the YearMesmerising . . . an incredible journey through love, loss, bittersweet triumph and disaster - Sunday HeraldA quirky and clever debut . . . this is an honest and witty insight into mental illness. - StylistHenderson allows you to soar with Grace's imagination - The Times book clubGrace's romance with Daniel, a "debonair" epileptic, is tender and convincing; the limber, musical prose peppered with brilliant descriptions - Independent on Sunday”
Praise for GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD: Startlingly assured, poetic and engaging - GRACE WILLIAMS SAYS IT LOUD introduces a new voice, one which I have no doubt we will be hearing much more of; I read it in two sittings, and am already looking forward to her next work. - Patrick McCabe
There is tenderness, joy, romance (not to mention inventive sex) and heartbreak. The language is tricksy, the subject disturbing. But this book is energetic, passionate and not easily forgotten. - Sunday TimesGrace's story from child to adult, told to stunning effect. Beautifully written, funny, sad and unforgettable, a love story like no other, it could be your book of the year. - ChoiceFar more inspiring than a hundred feel-good tomes - Independent, Books of the YearMesmerising . . . an incredible journey through love, loss, bittersweet triumph and disaster - Sunday HeraldA quirky and clever debut . . . this is an honest and witty insight into mental illness. - StylistHenderson allows you to soar with Grace's imagination - The Times book clubGrace's romance with Daniel, a "debonair" epileptic, is tender and convincing; the limber, musical prose peppered with brilliant descriptions - Independent on SundayAbout the Author
Emma Henderson's first novel, Grace Williams Says It Loud (Sceptre, 2010), won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Wellcome Book Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book and the Authors' Club First Novel Award, as well as being runner-up for the Mind Book of the Year.
Emma Henderson went to school in London and studied at Somerville College, Oxford and Yale University. She worked at Penguin as a copywriter for two years, then spent a decade teaching English in comprehensive schools and further education colleges before moving to the French Alps where, for six years, she ran a ski and snowboard lodge. She now lives in Derbyshire and is a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Keele University.In June 1914, Sir Anthony Valentine, a keen mountaineer, arrives with his family to spend the summer in their chalet, high in the French Alps. There, for the first time, fourteen-year-old foundling Mathilde starts work as one of the 'uglies' - village girls employed as servants and picked, it is believed, to ensure they don't catch Sir Anthony's roving eye. For Mathilde it is the start of a life-long entanglement with les anglais - strange, exciting people, far removed from the hard grind of farming. Except she soon finds the Valentines are less carefree than they appear, with a curiously absent daughter no one talks about. It will be decades - disrupted by war, accidents and a cruel betrayal - before Mathilde discovers the key to the mystery. And in 1976, the year Sir Anthony's great-great grandson comes to visit, she must decide whether to use it. Vividly evoking the dramatic landscape that so enthrals the Valentines, this deeply involving, intriguing novel tells the story of an English family through the generations and a memorable French woman, whose lives seem worlds apart yet which become inextricably connected.
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