Justine is 21 years old and has lived with her grandparents and her cousin Jules since the death of her parents. As a nursing assistant at a retirement home, she spends much of her days listening to her residents' stories. After bonding with Hélène, an almost 100-year-old resident, the two women slowly reveal their stories to one another.
Forgotten on Sunday is comfortably translated by Hildegarde Serle, though I wish she had left some of the original French for color ... This intricately plotted novel features more twisted strands than a French braid, with several flyaway mysteries that Perrin ultimately tames ... This sentimental soul-soother is further sweetened by the knowledge that several of the characters are named, at least in part, after Perrin's grandparents.
There’s fire at the novel’s core, and magic lurking beneath its bones ... Perrin’s signature gift of transmuting quotidian circumstances into transcendent truths is everywhere apparent.
The many admirers of Perrin’s previous novel, Fresh Water for Flowers, will be equally charmed by this beguiling tale. All other readers might be doubly rewarded.
