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Nov 04, 2014ryner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
When Lisette and her husband André receive urgent word that André's grandfather's health is failing, they abandon their cosmopolitan Parisian life and blossoming careers and relocate to the the Provençal countryside, where rustic village life awaits them. Lisette is especially disillusioned by all she has left behind, particularly when she learns that Pascal's home is lacking even running water, but she takes solace in a collection of paintings hanging in her new home and in growing to love Pascal himself as her own grandfather. As WWII threatens, André leaves to defend his country, but not before secretly hiding the paintings from even Lisette. As an owner of a woefully analytical brain and an "underappreciator" of art in general, I'm nevertheless drawn inexplicably to Susan Vreeland's evocative tales surrounding art history. I was afraid at first that I would not be able to sympathize with Lisette. She comes off as unbearably whiny as the story opens, but thankfully her attitude improves, and one could even go so far as to say she eventually embraces her new life in this small village. Lisette's story is both inspiring and heartbreaking.