Wednesday, July 8, 2009

73. The French Gardener

By:  Santa Montefiore
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  Beth

I think this is probably an updated version of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover.  I don't know this for a fact since I've not actually read Lady Chatterly's lover but from comment's I've read here and there it sounds like it must be.  Anyway it was a fast but entertaining read.  My thanks to Beth for this one.  I would have never heard of it otherwise.  I think I probably need to check out LC'sL from the library because now I am curious.  Who knows, someday something might even make me curious enough to stop being such a prude and read Lolita.

FROM AMAZON:  A rambling country estate may have lured Miranda and David and their children from their elegant London lifestyle, but not even the enchantment of once magnificent gardens, or fascination with an abandoned cottage can mend the emotional and physical chasm that is deepening between them. Left alone while David returns to London during the week, Miranda is overwhelmed by establishing a new home, disciplining an unruly child, and maintaining her own career. Her prayers are seemingly answered when a charismatic Frenchman suddenly appears with an offer to restore the gardens to their former glory. As the friendship between Miranda and Jean-Paul grows, so do her suspicions about David’s fidelity, leading Miranda to seek refuge in an abandoned diary that details a passionate tryst between the estate’s former owner, Ava, and her intriguingly unnamed gardener. Despite the obvious D. H. Lawrence overtones, Montefiore crafts a sweetly provocative romance that transitions seamlessly from Miranda’s contemporary marital discord to Ava’s past affair.