First line: Marguerite didn’t know where to start.
Why I read this: I was trying to finish reading all of Elin Hilderbrand’s older works.
From the inside cover: It’s a hot August Saturday on Nantucket Island. Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, two lives will be transformed forever.
Marguerite Beale, former chef of culinary hot spot Les Parapluies, has been out of the public eye for more than a decade. This all changes with a phone call from Marguerite’s goddaughter, Renata Knox. Marguerite has not seen Renata since the death of Renata’s mother, Candace Harris Knox, fourteen years earlier. And now that Renata is on Nantucket visiting the family of her new fiance, she takes the opportunity, against her father’s wishes, to contact Marguerite in hopes of learning the story of her mother’s life – and death. But the events of the day spiral hopelessly out of control for both women, and nothing ends up as planned.
Welcome to The Love Season, a riveting story that takes place in one day and spans decades; a story that embraces the charming, pristine island of Nantucket, as well as Manhattan, Paris, and Morocco. Elin Hilderbrand’s most ambitious novel to date chronicles the famous couplings of real lives: love and friendship, food and wine, deception and betrayal – and forgiveness and healing.
My thoughts: Elin Hilderbrand is another of my favorite authors and I love escaping into whatever story she creates. I particularly enjoyed how this one was told – through memory. It reminded me a little bit of another of her works – The Blue Bistro.
The Love Season is a complex, haunting novel that centers on the various themes of love that manifest throughout life. Romantic love, friendships, and sexual relationships are explored through the eyes of two main characters, Marguerite and Renata. The events unfold during one day, as reclusive chef Marguerite prepares an elaborate meal for her teenage goddaughter Renata. While Marguerite reflects on her past, Renata races forward, bringing her own relationship to a crisis point that can only be resolved by revealing long-hidden secrets. Bit by bit the mystery surrounding Renata’s mother’s death is revealed as we find out about Marguerite’s past. It is this mystery that keeps you captivated with the story until the very end.
I am always sad to finish a book by Elin Hilderbrand…I feel like I get to go on a little vacation on the beach in Nantucket. One of these days, I hope to get there, but for now, I will rely on Elin to take me there with each of her books.
(I borrowed this book from the library.)
