When bookshop shelves are overwhelmed with so many tempting options, how do you choose just one book to read? I believe a book often chooses you, as is the case with Fresh Water For Flowers by Valerie Perrin which I picked up at Exclusive Books at the airport. I was in a rush to catch a flight so hardly read the back cover blurb, but after paying and settling into my seat, I started reading and only stopped when my plane landed two hours later.
Translated from the French original, this story is different to your average modern-day novel, which all too often seem to be churned out according to a formula of what publishers think readers want: movie-style plotting and pacing, and as much conflict, drama and lust as you can cram into every page.
In contrast, Fresh Water For Flowers is a gentle meander through the loves, losses and rebirth of Violette Toussaint, the quirky caretaker of a cemetery in a small town in Burgundy, France.
Although steeped in sadness, and surrounded by death, Violetta’s perspective on where she lives, and what she does for a living, are poetically profound; and it becomes clear that the steady rhythm of tending to the graves and the cemetery garden provide a carefully constructed safe haven for her to slowly heal her broken heart.
Then one day, a good-looking detective, Julien Seul, disrupts her predictable routine by turning up on her doorstep with an urn of his mother’s ashes, her journal detailing an elicit affair, and her last request to be laid to rest on her lover’s grave.
For the first time in decades, Violette feels drawn to a man, and wants to help Julien understand the mystery of his mother. In the process of unravelling those secrets, Violette embarks on a personal journey of her own that helps her resolve unanswered questions in her own tragedy. This challenges her to embrace a new version of herself, open her heart to new possibilities, and begin to live again.
Take your time reading this very special gem of a book – I promise, it will have you thinking about it for days afterwards.
Buy it in Paperback on Takealot
Order the Kindle version on Amazon