A good read.

A good book with a solid story but not the authors usual high standed. I also think and as much as i like the narators voice. She should have left the french accent alone. All this being said, it is worth your time and credit.

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looking for her roots.

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a two time period story one in the past and one in the present. I usually like these stories but this one wasn't very good. got a bit fed up with the French ascents and having got over two thirds of the way through decided I might as well finish it.
I found a chapter in the book confusing as past and present were mingled together possibly to make a climax but it didn't work for me nor did ellie's changing hair colour.

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Favourite book.

I have read this book twice in hardback so when I saw this on Audible I had to get it. It is so well read and it's like being in a play every character sounds so different. What does that other reviewer mean 'performance is uninspiring'! were we even listening to the same story? I just closed my eyes and I was there, even my husband loved it. Don't be put off people you will love it.

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Chevalier magic, beautifully read.

Third time of reading this haunting story ... beautifully read. The story of La Rousse needs to be told and this is a lovely telling.

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wonderful story

Interesting and intriguing story, beautifully performed. Fascinating insight into a little known era of history.

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Great story but very irritating narration

I loved this book. It's impossible to stop listening to. I didn't like the reader though and the stupid accents were irritating.

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Another great book from TC

Great story, beautifully read. Parallel stories carefully interwoven. Very much enjoyed this book and the characters.

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Welcome Ghosts in Tracey's House in the Sun.

This book was a welcome accompaniment to a summer visit to Washington DC, Miami and Orlando - and the book, which verges on aspirant, but at times pedestrian, chick-lit retains much of the flavour of the trip in my mind. High-minded pastiche, nonsensical but expensive fun in the sun and downright unadulterated commercialism, you see where I'm going on this one.
Chevalier's France it seems to me has more to do with a laudatory viewing of the Claude Berri opus taken with a heavy dose of appetent genelogical angst - and screams 'I've found my 'House in the Sun' now just guess who my ancestors turned out to be....Not a classic, but well presented and certainly set to weather the credit crunch.
I read somewhere that Ms Chevalier decided to change her name before moving to Europe. Whilst I vaguely remember it had a more Shanks's Pony ring to it, I can find no record of her original nom before it was de plume'd.

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well written

well written and researched . great family history traced back over centuries. really enjoyable to listen to.

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Not as good as the "Girl with a Pearl Earring".

The story was much more convoluted. I could understand that Isabelle was in a bad marriage, though I couldn't see why she started an affair with Étienne, whom she didn't love, in the first place. In Ella's case though I failed to see how she was in a bad marriage. Their marriage had issues, but I wouldn't say it was bad. Jean-Paul is not likeable, Ella is not either and the fact that she is a midwife has no bearing on the story.
One of the biggest problems for me was that people in this novel don't have a normal human reaction or emotion.

SPOILERS:

When Sylvie finds the bones in Ella's bag and she freaks out her mom makes her apologise to Ella for going through Ella's bags. I don't have kids but my reaction would have been "Jeses Christ, why do you have human bones in your bag?! Excuse me, but I will call the police. Also, thanks for traumatising my daughter."
I have the feeling that Ella did a lot of illegal stuff in the novel: taking the Bible from the archives (as her husband points out, this a historical document, you cannot take it from an archive willy-nilly), breaking into the the farmhouse (" No, we are not breaking in... We are just going there... At night. To take something... That does not belong to me." Sure, Ella), grave robbery...
She assumes those bones are Marie's but she could have been easily mistaken.
I mean, she finds the bones of a kid... and she does not call the police. Yeah, the bones were centuries old, but how can she tell? At first glance. In the middle of the night, using just a flashlight. Is she a palaeontologist or a midwife?
I was also annoyed by the fact that every time she finds a Tournier she immediately assumes they are related. Is Tournier/Turner a really uncommon last name?
I liked some parts of the novel, but Ella is so frustratingly stupid and weirdly enough the majority of the characters take her side.
Another thing that the book hints at but never makes clear is that Jean-Paul is maybe the descendant of the shepherd that Isabelle had an "affair" with that lasted a full 30 seconds and so Ella and Jean-Paul were drawn together by fate. If so, then I hope Rick is not supposed to be a parallel to Étienne, because Étienne was a major bastard who murdered his own daughter. Rick was a bit inconsiderate... Maybe.

The book is not all bad, parts of it were really captivating but the parts that were (from my point of view) not well written really did stand out. But from what I understand this book was Chevalier's first novel, so it is not surprising that it has flaws.

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