A group of unlikely friends forms in France, united by a love of books and wine. Gradually they get to know each other and learn their secrets…
The Bordeaux Book Club is a book about the complexities of friendships and relationships.
Grace starts a book club in the aftermath of splitting up. Leah is having problems at home with her husband potentially having an affair and her daughter being constantly embarrassed by her. Monica is a young mum whose husband is a pilot so is often away. George is a gregarious but lonely builder and Alfie is a shy young man living with his mum.
I felt sorry for the band of unlikely friends. Leah and Grace have made sacrifices for their husbands but this has been unappreciated. Now Grace is alone and throwing herself into social events while Leah finds herself worried about her husband’s strange absences. Monica is struggling to cope with her baby and feels like a terrible mum.
I enjoyed the inclusion of the discussions on the books including Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights. The characters discuss the books and relate their own experiences to what they have read. We gradually find out more about the main characters as they explore the books and get to know each other better.
There are some wonderful descriptions in the book and the setting in France feels realistic. The main characters are easy to like and I liked how their friendships develop over the course of the book. They felt very authentic and I could easily imagine their emotions and thought processes. In particular, I identified with Monica and Leah as they consider their roles as mother, and I liked the contrast between the baby and teen years.
The Bordeaux Book Club is a gently emotional book about friendship.
The Bordeaux Book Club
Love books? The Bordeaux Book Club is seeking new members!
When Leah and her husband moved to France, it was with the dream of becoming self-sufficient. But in truth, it’s not the ‘good life’ she’d imagined, as three hours of digging barely yields a single straggly carrot. Worse, her teenage daughter is acting up, and her husband seems to find every strange excuse under the hot French sun to disappear.
So when her friend entreats her to join the new bookclub she’s forming, Leah decides it’s something she will do for herself. The chance to make new friends, to drink a few glasses of wine, and to escape into stories that take her miles away from the life she’d thought would be her own happy-ever-after.
But the book club is a strange group of misfits. There’s prickly Grace, who lives alone and seems to know everybody and like no-one. Buttoned-up Monica, who says her husband is away and appears to be parenting her baby all alone. Handsome builder George, who has barely read a book before. And Alfie – who is a full two decades younger than everyone else, and is hiding a devastating secret…
As the stories they read begin to bring the new friends closer together, Leah is about to discover that happy-ever-afters don’t always look how you expect them to…
A gorgeously escapist read from the bestselling author of A Year at the French Farmhouse, perfect for fans of Veronica Henry, Jo Thomas and Fiona Valpy.
