Another WWII historical fiction read. Once again, I picked this one out because of the beautiful cover and its favorable rating on Goodreads. I enjoyed reading Eliane’s story and this would have been a much more satisfying read for me had it been the sole narrative. Alternating between Eliane’s and Abi’s stories muddied the waters. I just didn’t feel that there was a strong enough connection between their two lives to integrate Abi’s “finding herself” with Elaine’s story of resistance during the Nazi occupation of France.

Eliane Martin, the primary subject of this work is living in France in 1938 with her family near Coulliac, a fictitious village situated between Tulle ad Sante-Foy-la-Grande. She is a beekeeper and kitchen worker for Comte de Bellevue at the Château de la Chapelle. She sells the honey she harvests from the hives at the market in town and lives with her parents at their home just below the estate of her employer. Her father makes his living grinding flour at their mill powered by the nearby weir. Her older sister, Mireille, works as an apprentice seamstress at an atelier in Paris, and her younger brother, Yves works with their father. She meets Mathieu, while working with the bees and they fall in love, only to be separated by the conflict which soon reaches the soil of France. When the opportunity to help the resistance presents itself, Eliane decides that it is “time to fight for the things that matter.”

In 2017, Abi Howes has come to France with her friend, Pru, who quickly abandons her when she quickly gains the attention of a foreigner. She has no family ties, and has left behind a life damaged in a few short years by an abusive husband and a car accident. When she meets Sara and Thomas the proprietors of Château Bellevue they offer Abi a position in their business as a wedding venue. While they work together, Sara tells Abi Eliane’s story, and Abi begins to heal her wounded soul.

I always love novels about WWII, so this fit that bill for me. I felt like it fell short to be riveting, but it was a nice flashback and forward story.

4.5 This was a book group book and I wasn't sure it would be my thing but I really loved it. I was sweap along with the story and really liked the characters. She writes about nature really well but did repeat too many words for my liking. I usually avoid chic-lit romance but meybe it's more my thing than I thought. Anyway, perfect for a miserable February.

Hmm. This was clearly 2 separate tales shoved into one to fill out a book. The narrative structure was poorly constructed and other than ditching Abi’s story completely (my preference) I think it would have been better to sandwich Elaine’s entire tale between Abi’s rather than breaking it up with pointless thoughts about someone we barely cared about as she was clearly the afterthought, the filler.
That said, I did enjoy Elaine’s tale, though short, hence the 3 rather than 2 stars.
I wouldn’t recommend it, not enough depth or character development for me.

Mooi boek over een vrouw, haar vrienden en familie tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Frankrijk. De auteur schuwt niet om de gruwelijkheden in deze periode te benoemen en beschrijven. Een deel van het verhaal speelt zich in de huidige tijd af en wordt verteld vanuit het perspectief van een andere vrouw die de nodige tegenslagen heeft meegemaakt in haar leven. Dit is soms verwarrend, maar wel van toegevoegde waarde. En maakt dit boek ook toegankelijk voor mensen die weinig met geschiedenis hebben. Er staan helaas wel wat foutjes in de vertaling en volgens mij hoort de titel toch echt Eliane's belofte te zijn.

Good historical content but Iistened to the audio version and found it very difficult to understand the narrator accent.