Black Water Lilies: A stunning, twisty murder mystery

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The novel is set in the small village of Giverny, France, site of the home and gardens of artist Claude Monet, who had moved there in 1883. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.

Water lilies have beautiful flowers, and they have a strong fragrance, however, these flowers tend to last up to four days.Serenac and Stephenie, with her magnetic water lily eyes, are instantly attracted to one another in echoes of Flaubert's Emma Bovary. All of this is being observed inobtrusively by an old woman who lives alone in a watermill near Giverny. A volte, invece, la voce narrante è quella di Fanette, una scolara di undici anni particolarmente portata nella pittura: Fanette parla in corsivo e Bussi fatica a scendere alla sua altezza, quella della ragazzina è la voce che stride di più.

The book was a great success in France, and I guess that if you like a suspenseful story full of ominous forebodings, it would work for you.But it has to do with a certain character’s motivations for his/her actions that did not seem clear or well explained to me. It subtly draws the readers eye to the biases and perceptions that can be built up about people - young girls with single mothers, old women who disappear into the background, loveless marriages, convenience, and those secrets.