Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Valérie Perrin

Fresh Water for Flowers

Cover: Fresh Water for Flowers - Valérie Perrin

Valérie Perrin

Fresh Water for Flowers

2020, pp. 400, Hardcover
ISBN: 9781609455958
Translated by: Hildegarde Serle
Region: France
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
$ 25.00
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW
Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide

The book

A 2020 INDIES INTRODUCE PICK

A POIGNANT RUNAWAY BESTSELLER full of French charm and memorable characters, Fresh Water for Flowers is Valérie Perrin’s English debut.

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Casual mourners, regular visitors, and sundry colleagues—gravediggers, groundskeepers, and a priest—visit her to warm themselves in her lodge, where laughter, companionship, and occasional tears mix with the coffee she offers them. Her life is lived to the rhythms of their funny, moving confidences.

Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of Julien Sole—local police chief—who insists on scattering the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger. It soon becomes clear that Julien’s inexplicable gesture is intertwined with Violette’s own difficult past.

With Fresh Water for Flowers, Valérie Perrin has given readers an intimately told story that tugs on the heartstrings about a woman who defiantly believes in happiness, despite it all. A number one bestseller in France, Fresh Water for Flowers is a heartwarming and tender story that will stay will readers for years after the final page is turned.

“Breathtaking.”—Unidivers

“Thundering applause for Fresh Water for Flowers.”— La Marseillaise

“The balance between laughter and tears is spot on.”— Lire

“A bad, bad, bad case of love at first read. This is a splendid, moving book, my favorite of 2018.”— C’est au programme

“Readers will be moved by the poetic gentleness of the narration, by the generous gaze that the two protagonists cast over human affairs, by the desire for peace that Julien and Violette share, and by the welcome dose of humor.”— La Croix

“A publishing sensation—for real this time”: read how Fresh Water for Flowers became the lockdown novel in Italy and France

The author

Valérie Perrin
Valérie Perrin was born in 1967 in Remiremont, in the Vosges Mountains, France. She grew up in Burgundy and settled in Paris in 1986. Her novel The Forgotten Sunday (2015) won the Booksellers Choice Award and the paperback edition has been long-selling best-seller since publication. Her English-language debut, Fresh Water for Flowers (Europa, 2020) won the Maison de la Presse Prize, the Paperback Readers Prize, and was named a 2020 ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next List title. It has been translated into over thirty languages. Figaro Littéraire named Perrin one of the ten best-selling authors in France in 2019, and in Italy, Fresh Water for Flowers was the best selling book of 2020. Perrin now lives in Normandy

Press

From the same country

  • Cover: A Good Life - Virginie Grimaldi

    Virginie Grimaldi

    A Good Life

    2024, pp. 288, $ 28.00
    Laughter, tears, the transformative power of love, unexpected revelations, and striking natural beauty: these are the ingredients that combine to...
  • Cover: Paradises Lost - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

    Paradises Lost

    2024, pp. , $ 27.00
    The beginning of a unique adventure, the tremendous challenge of recounting the history of humanity.
  • Cover: Silence of the Choir - Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

    Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

    Silence of the Choir

    2024, pp. 372, $ 18.00
    A polyphonic tale of immigration and community by “the most promising Senegalese writer of his generation” ( Le Monde) and winner of the 2021...
  • Cover: The Postcard - Anne Berest

    Anne Berest

    The Postcard

    2024, pp. 480, $ 18.95
    Brilliantly told, Anne Berest’s luminous, moving, and unforgettable new book The Postcard is the most acclaimed and beloved French novel in...
  • Cover: Living with our Dead - Delphine Horvilleur

    Delphine Horvilleur

    Living with our Dead

    2024, pp. 144, $ 24.00
    WINNER OF THE 2021 BABELIO PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A timely, powerful reflection on our relationship to death and an invitation to accept...
  • Cover: One Hour of Fervor - Muriel Barbery

    Muriel Barbery

    One Hour of Fervor

    2024, pp. 196, $ 26.00
    From the best-selling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes a story of one man’s promise to keep a secret that will keep...

More suggestions

  • Cover: Goodnight Tokyo - Atsuhiro Yoshida

    Atsuhiro Yoshida

    Goodnight Tokyo

    2024, pp. 176, $ 18.00
    A symphony of interconnected lives that offers a compelling reflection on life in modern-day metropolises at the intersection of isolation and intimacy.
  • Cover: A Good Life - Virginie Grimaldi

    Virginie Grimaldi

    A Good Life

    2024, pp. 288, $ 28.00
    Laughter, tears, the transformative power of love, unexpected revelations, and striking natural beauty: these are the ingredients that combine to...
  • Cover: Silence of the Choir - Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

    Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

    Silence of the Choir

    2024, pp. 372, $ 18.00
    A polyphonic tale of immigration and community by “the most promising Senegalese writer of his generation” ( Le Monde) and winner of the 2021...
  • Cover: The Other Profile - Irene Graziosi

    Irene Graziosi

    The Other Profile

    2024, 436 min., $ 28.95
    A story of a conflicted friendship and its unraveling, told against the background of an ever-present, mind-twisting social media-verse
  • Cover: I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning - Keiran Goddard

    Keiran Goddard

    I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

    2024, pp. 208, $ 27.00
    Told from the alternating perspectives of five friends who grew up together on the same council estate, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning...
  • Cover: The Other Profile - Irene Graziosi

    Irene Graziosi

    The Other Profile

    2024, pp. 224, $ 27.00
    A story of a conflicted friendship and its unraveling, told against the background of an ever-present, mind-twisting social media-verse

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X