Last month I featured an extract from A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi which published June 6th with Europa Editions UK. I was very lucky to have been sent a review copy from Europa but, due to a few postal issues, I only received it the day before I went on holidays. So, obviously, I packed it in my suitcase and read it under the Spanish sun loving every single bit of it.
[ About A Good Life ]
Emma and Agathe are sisters. They grew up together yet are very different. Agathe, the youngest, messy and ardent, has always taken up all the space in the bath, in the bedroom, and in Emma’s heart. After five years of unexplained silence, Emma arranges to meet Agathe in the family’s holiday home. After Mima, their beloved grandmother, passed away, the place must be emptied, and the memories revisited.
The two sisters have a week to tell each other everything and make up for the time they spent apart. Will they be able to fix the past?
In the beauty of this summer in the Basque Country, where their childhood is knocking at the door, the strength of their story resounds. Between laughter and tears, a moving and irresistible novel.
[ My Review ]
It is no secret that I enjoy much of the work that is published by Europa Editions so I knew that I was in for a treat when A Good Life landed in my post-box. I am not familiar with the writing of Virginie Grimaldi, an author described as the French Marian Keyes, but, if I’m honest, on turning the final page I think that I would prefer Grimaldi’s overall humour and style. A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi is wonderfully translated from the French by Hildegarde Serle.
Set in the Basque region of France, A Good Life centres around the lives of siblings Emma and Agathe. As young children, Emma and Agathe were peas in a pod. Emma, the eldest, was very protective of her younger sister for reasons which become very clear as the chapters unfold. Now they are both older but estranged for the past five years. Following the recent death of their grandmother, Mima, the pair arrange to meet in her home, a place full of nostalgia and memories. With so much to catch up on, initially they are restrained in each other’s company, walking on eggshells as they try to figure things out, but, as the days pass by, the past unravels into a stunning, heart-achingly beautifully recounted story of love and regret, of pain and acceptance, of hope and adversity.
Over the course of one week we get glimpses into their lives, both past and present, and the challenges both faced over the years. Emma and Agathe have two very different personalities, with Emma the more reserved of the two. Agathe is inclined to live life on the edge, which Emma attempts to adjust to a little after so long apart. Dealing with multiple strong and emotional themes, Virginie Grimaldi beautifully incorporates into her novel that special sisterly relationship that some are very fortunate to have. This unbreakable bond survives life’s ups and downs and no matter what obstacle is thrown in the way, the strength of this relationship is impenetrable. Emma and Agathe’s story is exquisitely told with beautiful and nostalgic visuals of idyllic days but also of the trauma and challenges faced by these two loving sisters.
A Good Life is, at times, a contemplative and heartrending novel, bittersweet and sentimental but it is also a joyful and uplifting story of a beautiful relationship that has faced tragedy and turmoil, surviving through the years against all the odds. It is a very authentic tale that will resonate with so many, with some wonderful cultural references scattered throughout, like the fabulous 1988 French movie, Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue) by Luc Besson and Rose & Jacks’ 1997 Titanic story.
A Good Life is an understated novel, one with a very big heart, written with a refined, and at times, humorous pen. Charming and tender, A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi is another beautiful novel from Europa Editions UK and one I highly recommend to all looking for a meaningful summer read.
[ Bio ]
Virginie Grimaldi was born in 1977 in Bordeaux where she still lives. Translated into more than twenty languages, her novels are carried by endearing characters and a poetic and sensitive pen. Her stories, funny and moving, echo everyone’s life.
She is the most read French novelist in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (Le Figaro littéraire/GFK awards) and winner of the Favorite Book of the French in 2022 (France Télévisions).
X ~ @GinieGrimaldi
