Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin

Recently, I read Perrin’s novel Forgotten on Sunday. It is a lovely little book about a nurse and her life, happiness and sorrows. I really liked Perrin’s prose and every line seems to be beautifully written, even in translation. I have had her latest book Fresh Water for Flowers on my shelf, and since it seems to be a good summer read, I took it with me while travelling.

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Random visitors, regulars, and, most notably, her colleagues—three gravediggers, three groundskeepers, and a priest—visit her as often as possible to warm themselves in her lodge, where laughter, companionship, and occasional tears mix with the coffee that she offers them. Her daily life is lived to the rhythms of their hilarious and touching confidences. Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of a man—Julien Sole, local police chief—who insists on depositing the ashes of his recently departed mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger. It soon becomes clear that the grave Julien is looking for belongs to his mother’s one-time lover, and that his mother’s story of clandestine love is intertwined with Violette’s own secret past. With Fresh Water for Flowers, Valérie Perrin has given readers a funny, moving, intimately told story of a woman who believes obstinately in happiness. Perrin has the rare talent of illuminating what is exceptional and poetic in what seems ordinary. A #1 best-seller in France, Fresh Water for Flowers is a delightful, atmospheric, absorbing fairy tale full of poetry, generosity, and warmth.

After having read two of her books, it seems that Perrin is fond of looking at family relationships from different angles. I think her books probably contain characters that are recognisable to everyone. Her stories are about everyday life— the good and the bad, the fun and the boring.

I don’t really want to give away any spoilers, so I will just say that Violette is a person with integrity. It might not seem so at the beginning, but as the story unfolds, our opinion of her changes.

As with Forgotten on Sunday, there is a sort of mystery woven into the story. As we follow Violette’s life, we also get glimpses of something else. Not everything is what it seem to be.

The beautiful prose is there, and it is a pleasure to read. Perrin’s way of approaching her characters is exquisite, and they are very well developed, even those we don’t meet very often. It is a fascinating story about how we all have to find our way in life, overcome the sad times, and try to find a reason for living.

I found the book slightly too long, which does not mean that it was boring—far from it. But I felt that the story could have been told in fewer chapters.

As Violette works at a cemetery, there is a strong connection between life and death, and how they affect people. A lot of surprising characters come to visit Violette at work. I often find cemeteries to be peaceful places, and Perrin manages to make the cemetery one of the main characters in the story. She gives us wonderful stories about its “inhabitants”, as well as about the people who work there.

A story to be charmed by, but also one that makes you ponder life and death.

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“It’s a luxury to be the owner of one’s time. I think it’s one of the greatest luxuries human beings can afford themselves.”

“You must learn to be generous with your absence to those who haven’t understood the importance of your presence.”

“We think that death is an absence, when in fact it’s a secret presence.”

“We never meet people by chance. They are destined to cross our paths for a reason.”

Quotes from Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin

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I think this is only my second book that will go into Big Books of Summer. Far away from the 10 I was hoping to read. Reading has been very slow, but at least I managed two books, and they are even from my TBR shelves.