After loving the works of Maylis de Kerangal in 2021, I've been interested in exploring more French literature, and I've had Perrin in my sights because she's published by Europa, a publisher I love for translated works. (Hildegarde Serle translates this one.) When Fabled book buyer gave me a nudge to read this, I was only too eager to jump in! I was hooked by her English language debut from the lyrical and utterly surprising opening passage, in which narrator Violette grounds us in her work as a cemetery caretaker. She sees her setting not as a sinister place but as a garden of souls where she gently tends the dead and those who come to pay them tribute. The achingly sad and touching story unspools over more than twenty years, yet always felt immediate, even urgent, mixing love and betrayal, drama and resilience, friendship and loss, drama and resilience, even poetry to great effect. I listened on audio, which was a little tricky in places because the narrative jumps through time, but I still loved experiencing the story in that format. I'm eager to read more of Perrin's works and already downloaded her new release Three to begin next.

From the publisher: "1986: Adrien, Etienne and Nina are 10 years old when they meet at school and quickly become inseparable. They promise each other they will one day leave their provincial backwater, move to Paris, and never part. 2017: A car is pulled up from the bottom of the lake, a body inside. Virginie, a local journalist with an enigmatic past reports on the case while also reflecting on the relationship between the three friends, who were unusually close when younger but now no longer speak. As Virginie moves closer to the surprising truth, relationships fray and others are formed."

Following the smashing success of Fresh Water for Flowers, Perrin’s 2015 debut is finally being published in English. Our narrator is Justine, whose life has been defined by loss: she’s been living with her grandparents, along with her cousin Jules, ever since their four parents were killed in a car accident when they were young. Now twenty-one, she loves two things in life above all: music and the elderly. She works as a nurse at a retirement community in her small French village, and relishes listening to the residents’ life stories. Her favorite resident, centenarian Hélène, has been slowly unspooling her great love story to Justine—a story which prompts Justine to begin exploring the secrets of her own past. Beautifully rendered, ultimately hopeful, but utterly heartbreaking.

The story opens with a phone call: authorities from her Burgundy hometown stun Agnès when they announce her aunt Colette, her tata, has died. Agnès is bewildered: her tata died three years ago; Agnès planned the funeral herself. Wondering who is actually in her tata’s grave, Agnès quickly turns amateur investigator, interrogating friends from her youth, her tata’s social circle, and her own family history for answers. Her quest changes course when she finds dozens of cassette tapes holding the oral diary Colette recorded for Agnès. Elements of danger and suspense add richness to this stirring family saga, brimming with secrets and musings about the role of art in our lives. For fans of Perrin’s Three and Anne Berest’s The Postcard.