They have come to say goodbye to the place they loved the most in their lives. Mima and Pipa, grandparents to sisters Emma and Agathe, were always the safe place for the girls to land when their parents divorced, or when their mother took her frequent lovers, and had her even more frequent violent meltdowns. Emma, the elder sister, was always the responsible one who shielded Agathe from their mother's wrath. She eventually married and had two children, and a relatively stable life. Her younger sister was mercurial, an emotional wreck. High spirited, quick to fall in love, and quicker to be disappointed, Agathe was eventually diagnosed with bipolar syndrome after two suicide attempts.
The sisters came back to their grandparents' cottage in the Basque region of France to spend one last week together before their dreary uncle sells the cottage-while Agathe was Mima's companion in the house for the last few years of her life, Emma has not seen either of them for five years.
Truths, old hurts, and the paths to forgiveness are explored in their time together, as each sister tells her story in the past and in the present. But there is one important secret which will be left unsaid unless one sister summons up the courage to tell it.
This was a valentine to the Basque region of France and a beautifully written story of the bonds of sisterhood. Grimaldi is a French bestselling author and this book is her English debut. I expect more great things from her in the future.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
Publication date - May 28, 2024
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