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In the meantime we are getting to know Violette’s story, including about her marriage and her first job as a level-crossing keeper, raising and lowering the barriers as trains pass. To zapach cynamonu i wanilii, to ciche słowa szeptane o zmierzchu i nucone pod nosem piosenki Elvisa. The shadows of her past are never too far away but in the daily company of three gravediggers, the local undertakers and the priest, Violette comes to a realisation that her life now, alongside the resting place of the dead, is her version of heaven. Abandoned by her husband years ago she spends her days taking great care of the cemetery , growing flowers , cleaning headstones , reading epitaphs and meeting people to whom she provides comfort in their times of bereavement and distress. Julien Seul, a detective, arrives at Brancion-en-Chalon cemetery to fulfill the request of his mother, Irene, by placing her ashes on the grave of her lover, a man whose existence had been unknown prior to his mother’s death.

Fresh Water for Flowers is the most extraordinary, moving tribute to the resilience of human spirit. However difficult her life may be, Violette is always drawn to the warmth and the light, those eternal forces that give her optimism and a will to survive.

It soon becomes clear the grave Julien is looking for belongs to his mother’s one-time lover, and that his mother’s story of clandestine love is intertwined with Violette’s own secret grief.

Elvis is another gravedigger, who names all the feral cats (Moody Blues, Love Me, Tutti Frutti, Spanish Eyes to name a few), some of which arrive with their dead parents.Not that I ever found it well written but some of it was charming, whimsical, ridiculously sentimental. Being at the centre of the dead puts Violette at the heart of the local community, life and death go hand in hand. A lot is going on as themes are explored and sometimes feel like they are quietly weaved together and then become busy with the various narratives and plot strands.

Sasha comes across as a person with an almost supernatural ability to heal others, in body and in spirit. Thankfully, Perrin avoids easy, inadequate clichés Her daily life is lived to the rhythms of the hilarious and touching confidences of random visitors and her colleagues. Fresh Water for Flowers is littered with an outstanding cast of characters all very much brought to life through the words of Valérie Perrin. Despite multiple tragedies and hardships in her life, she remained extremely sensitive, delicate, thoughtful, non-judgmental in her relationships with others.

Her daily life is lived to the rhythms of the hilarious and touching confidences of random visitors and her colleagues-three gravediggers, three groundskeepers, and a priest. I read a number of really positive and glowing reviews from GR friends and a few IRL friends (all women) adored this one too. I really liked the sketch of Violette (although I never did believe her to be a real life flesh like being but more a romantic muse) I then had a number of really good cries over the next few chapters and I had such hope for this book.

Although this is a profoundly sad story (get the tissues at the ready), the message is finding hope, strength, love, and endurance in life. I am in awe of protagonist Violette’s endurance, her steadfast resolve in soldering on, in the face of disappointment and loss.Fresh Water For Flowers is a tale about difficult love, mature love, grief, loneliness, god, death, the absence of those whom we love, relationship between people and their animal companions. This didn’t feel like a translation, so kudos to Hildegarde Serle, and of course to Valerie Perrin for this beautifully , affecting story of a character I will remember. Valerie Perrin’s delightful Fresh Water for Flowers is a funny and moving story of one woman’s belief that everything will turn out right.