Forgotten on Sunday

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.