Victorine

In a novel of love, adventure and self-discovery, Catherine Texier takes a mystery from her family's past and draws from it an unforgettable portrait of a remarkable woman - her great-grandmother, Victorine. A young school teacher in the Vendee in the 1980's, Victorine is married with two young children. However, when she falls desperately in love with a customs officer and she abandons her family for her lover and a new life in Indochina. On a single day in 1940, as Victorine reflects on her past, we travel back with her to that extrodinary period of her life. It is a remarkable story which explores a woman's personal conflict between duty and independence, tradition and freedom. This is a lush, lyrical and evocative novel, taking the reader from the willow-lined canals of the Vendee to the sun-drenched days and languorous nights along the Mekong River at the dawn of the twentieth century.