Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Kirsty Manning | 20 Questions: THE FRENCH GIFT
Author Guest / November 3, 2021

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE FRENCH GIFT 2–What is it about? THE FRENCH GIFT is a dual time-line story of female friendship, longing and sacrifice through war and loss, bringing together the present and the past. The story begins with Margot Bisset—a French maid on the Riviera—who is convicted of murder after a glamorous party takes a surprising turn. She is interned in a German rayon factory, and develops an unlikely friendship with the brilliant writer and resistance fighter Joséphine Murant. In a German WWII rayon factory, two female prisoners support one another—and others—in horrific circumstances and form an unbreakable bond. In her later years, Joséphine Murant retires to the Riviera and continues the career she has built as an international bestselling mystery writer. Overlaying this is a contemporary storyline: the healing, hunt-for-truth story of Evie—and her 17-year-old-son Hugo—as they try to make peace and heal following the tragic death of beloved father/husband, Rafael, two years ago.   Mother and son decide to summer at an old family house in the Riviera—inherited from Rafael’s great-aunt Joséphine Murant—to help local museum director—the handsome and gentle Clément Dumas—prepare a retrospective exhibition. Together they hunt for a missing manuscript that…