The Light Behind The Window

Author/Guide: Lucinda Riley

Why a Booktrail?

1940s, 1990s: A story of war, a story of wealth but more than anything, a story of hope. Also called The Lavender Garden

ISBN: 978-1447218425
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

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What you need to know before your trail

1940s: Emilie de la Martinieres mother has just died. Although Emilie was never close to her, she is the only surviving member of her family now and has been left in charge of a beautiful, but crumbling family chateau and vineyard. She meets a man, Alex, and goes with him back to Yorkshire, but it is his family which starts to be the object for her fascination and not hers.

1990s: Constance Carruthers is Alex and Sebastien’s grandmother and is drafted into the SOE. Soon she ends up in Paris when WW2 is at its peak. She finds herself in some very dangerous situations and ends up in the home of a certain Mr Martinieres where there are two Nazi officers…

Locations

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England
F: North Yorkshire Moors

Travel Guide

Gassin, France

An imposing chateau which links the two women is the central character of the book as it represents hidden secrets, the past, the history that we all carry into the future, and the pain and struggles of life. As Emilie begins to sort through her family affairs, she discovers a notebook of poems, written by her Father’s sister Sophia. Sophia has been hidden away but slowly reveals the story that links the two families and the hidden secrets of both the Chateau and all it represents. The castle is fictional but the setting:

“Nature had painted a fresh picture as it did ever dawn the soft Provencal palette of umber, green and azure gently ushering in the new day”

Paris

The main setting for the story set in the 1940s. The Paris then was very different to that now. It was a dangerous place to be, a place of occupation and survival where Constance Carruthers must go above and beyond the face of duty in order to survive. She is part of the Resistance movement but finds herself in enemy territory and in a very dangerous predicament indeed. This Paris is a maze of streets and intrigue and Constance gets to know the city very well and not just the dubious Rue des Rennes. Her fellow agents have been arrested and the threat of being discovered is high.. Emilie discovers a very different Paris, a city filled with art and intrigue many years later when she is trying to plan her future and decide what the future of her family’s castle should be.

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

I am a very visual reader – I see the characters and the settings very clearly, and when the writing is as good as this, I can even smell the dark dank caverns of the castle and taste the fear when the Germans come knocking to the door. The whole story weaved in and out of its 529 pages with ease and I must admit, I was very moved in particular by the final scene. I hope this is turned into a film although I’m one of those people who expects it to build the pictures it does in my mind. However, I do think that it would be a lovely story to explore and to experience in the cinema.

The light behind the window is a light which rebounds of every surface it touches, revealing shadows and darker recesses of the human character and mind. But it also represents a shining example of hope and emotional strength.

I didn’t want this light to go out.