Author:Barbara Keating,Stephanie Keating
'And to my daughter in France, I bequeath the remainder of my Estate'
These words, read from the will of Irish academic Richard Kirwan, come as a complete surprise to his grieving family. Solange de Valnay's perfectly ordered world is shattered when she discovers the identity of her true father for the first time. She loves the man who has always been 'Papa' and the Languedoc vineyard in which she had the happiest of childhoods; Celine, her adored mother, is dead. But the truth of Richard Kirwan's liaison with her mother cannot remain buried, and the Kirwan children and their half-sister must overcome their differences and confront the past that unites them.
What emerges is an extraordinary tale of an impossible but irresistible love affair, of passion and blind heroism, of sacrifices made for love and honour and of four families whose resistance to the German forces occupying France during WWII binds them across the borders and cultures through war and peace.
Full of intrigue, love, passion and anger
—— Irish IndependentA singular literary event - a cosmopolitan novel
—— ObserverStiff upper lips are melted by passion in this story of wartime valour and present day curiosity
—— Irish TatlerOnce again, Kennedy brilliantly interweaves over-wrought internal dialogue with external outrageous acts. The unfolding tenderness of nature and of amity blend superbly with the casualness of daily horror
—— Catherine Taylor , Independent on SundayDay is more than a novel, it is an investigations into the difficulties of being alive
—— Eileen Battersby , Irish TimesDay is a very good novel. It is largely about love, as most novels are, but the author's skill with language... makes the average cliché unique... Historical details become flesh and funny in her hand
—— Katy Guest , IndependentAL Kennedy has built a reputation as one of the fiercest, most bloody minded and thrilling British writers and her new novel more than backs that up... Day is an utterly engrossing read
—— MetroDay is a remarkable performance
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday TelegraphThis is a remarkably clean lined book, of highly literary construction, that still feels huge and wide ranging. Day is a forceful, wholly achieved piece of work by a writer of enormous power. It ought to win all the prizes going
—— Tim Martin , Daily TelegraphWell deserved to win the 2007 Costa book of the year award...sophisticated texture...Ms Kennedy manages to make every battle truism fresh
—— EconomistIt is quite outstanding, full of beauty, pain and truth... We are lucky to have this book
—— Anne Chisholm , Sunday TelegraphThe facts surrounding the discovery of this book are as remarkable as its contents are magnificent... A triumph of indomitability and a masterwork of literary accomplishment
—— Sunday TimesDeftly translated by Sandra Smith, this is possibly the most devastating indictment of French manners and morals since Madame Bovary, as hypnotic as Proust at the biscuit tin, as gruelling as Genet on the prowl. Irène Nemirovsky is, on this evidence, a novelist of the very first order, perceptive to a fault and sly in her emotional restraint
—— Evening StandardAn heroic attempt to write a novel about a nightmare in which the author is entirely embedded
—— Anita Brookner , SpectatorRead this haunting novel, then read [Nemirovsky’s] letters in this edition to feel the full force of the work
—— Fiona Wilson , The TimesWhile marked by poppy wearing and memorial ceremonies, the First World War is also sustained through family history, handed down from one generation to the next. No book better articulates the impact of this narrative than Stephen Faulks’ Birdsong.
—— Lucy Middleton , Reader's DigestA truly amazing read
—— Gail Teasdale , 24housingI’d never read such descriptive literature, and couldn’t sleep at night for thinking about what I’d just read. His [Faulks] portrayal of terror on the battlefield is so powerful
—— Anna Redman , Good HousekeepingMy all-time favourite book
—— Kate Garraway , Good Housekeeping