Édesanyja halála után Emilie de la Martiniéres hatalmas vagyont örököl, többek között az omladozó dél-franciaországi kastélyt és az azt körülvevő szőlőt. A lányra amúgy is hatalmas súlyként nehezedik az öröksége, és most megroppan a hagyatékkal kapcsolatos feladatok terhe alatt. A fiatal angol műkereskedő, Sebastian Carruthers siet a segítségére, akinek a felbukkanása éppoly titokzatos, mint a kastély renoválásakor előkerülő versek, amelyeket apja nagynénje írt sok-sok évvel ezelőtt. Emilie elhatározza, hogy a titkok nyomába szegődik és felderíti a múltat. Az események a nácik megszállta Franciaország világába vezetik, amikor is brit ügynökök minden veszedelemmel - a lelepleződéssel, a Gestapo kínzásaival - dacolva a francia ellenállás mellé állnak, hogy akár életüket is kockára tegyék Európa felszabadításáért. A bátor hősnők egyike éppen Dél-Franciaországba kerül bevetésre, így az angol kémnő és Emilie családjának története kibogozhatatlanul összefonódik, és végzetes eseményekhez vezet... Lucinda Riley regényei hangos sikert aratnak szerte a világban, e kötete történelmi eseményekben és szerelmi fordulatokban bővelkedő regény, letehetetlen olvasmány a romantika és az izgalmak elegyének kedvelői számára.

Can there actually be another love story that takes us back to the horrors of WW2? The answer is yes, there actually can. This time we learn of the Resistance and the brave women who were essential in the fight and the aftermath of secrets that unfold. How the interweaving of the past and present create the telling of another perfect love story filled with family secets ( )

Another most enjoyable, and at times, hard to put down, novel by Lucinda Riley. Always keen to understand World War Two experiences, and the trials and tribulations of the citizens of the nations involved. This did not disappoint. That Constance was acreditied with having a 'quiet war' belied all she became involved with. I loved her as a character along with Emilie. ( )

Las vidas de dos mujeres se entrecruzan con más de cincuenta años de diferencia en una historia de secretos que por fin salen de las sombras.

Emilie siempre ha luchado contra su ascendencia aristocrática, pero tras la muerte de su madre se descubre sola en el mundo, única heredera de la gran casa donde pasó su infancia en el sur francés. Un viejo cuaderno con poemas la lleva a indagar en la vida de la misteriosa y bella Sophia, cuya trágica historia de amor lo cambió todo. A medida que Emilie avanza en su búsqueda, también ella se embarca en su propio viaje de descubrimiento: quizás en el castillo encuentre las huellas de su intricado pasado para, finalmente, abrir las puertas al futuro.

Londres, 1943. Constance Carruthers es reclutada como espía durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Separada de su contacto en Francia, conoce a una acaudalada familia atrapada en un terrible juego de mentiras. Despojada de su identidad yde los lazos que la unen a su país y a su amado esposo, Constance se hallará en medio de una red de engaños cuyas repercusiones afectarán a las generaciones por venir.

I've read or listened to lots of Lucinda Riley's novels by now, and so far, I've loved them all. This novel is no exception. I really enjoy the way Lucinda manages to connect historical facts with the fate of a family, and then connects it with the present. She does this in an inimitable and very convincing way.
True, so at times, there are moments where it borders on kitsch, but as the story is so fascinating, I can forgive that.
As with all Lucinda's novels, my impression is that a lot of research has gone into the story, so it is believable.
She handled a difficult topic -- the Nazi occupation of France, the Vichy Régime, and the Résistance -- really well. The story has everything a good story needs: great characters, an interesting plot, twist and turns.
This time around, I wasn't too impressed with Gerri Halligan's performance: although the whole story is written in English, the (mainly French) characters are speaking French most of the time, and just why they would do so with an accent is beyond me. At least the narrator didn't overdo the French accent, but still. Add to this, that she hasn't got the slightest idea about French pronunciation, and apparently didn't bother to find out, and the narration isn't as enjoyable as it could have been.

Still, the great story makes up for the rather poor narration, so all in all it was enjoyable. ( )

One of the best books I have read this year. If you like WWII era books put this one on your TBR list. ( )

3.5. It was fine. A bit too predictable. The ending a bit too neat. ( )

Once again I found a Lucinda Riley book that I just LOVED. I was so engrossed in this tale I did not even want to go to bed. One of my favorite authors. ( )

great read. loved the characters. ( )

This is an excellent story about the history of a particular family and how the ancestors are related. Lucinda Riley has a way of keeping the reader on the edge and devouring her stories. I highly recommend this book. ( )

„Der Lavendelgarten“ lässt mich zwiegespalten zurück. Ich mochte die Geschichte im Zweiten Weltkrieg sehr. Hier gab es Spannung, faszinierende Hintergrundinformationen und wundervolle, starke Charaktere. Der andere Erzählsptrang rund um Emilie gefiel mir hingegen überhaupt nicht – Kitsch, Naivität und eine mir nicht verständliche Entwicklung der Protagonistin.

Beide Stränge sind jedoch geschickt miteinander verwoben und zeichnen sich durch einen einnehmenden Schreibstil aus, bei dem mir vor allem die Szenenbeschreibung gefiel. Alles in allem durchwachsen, aber empfehlenswert, falls ihr mit Kitsch und einer leicht vorhersehbaren Handlung im ersten Erzählteil zurechtkommt. ( )

Lucinda Riley once again writes a cracking story! This one was a bit slower in getting off the ground than others I have read but once it did I was fully engrossed! Both the modern day story and the back story from the Second World War captivated me and led me to want to read on and on. As has been said by others some similarity to Kate Morton's stories but I actually think I prefer Lucinda Riley's books. If you like dual time line books I would certainly recommend Lucinda Riley, whilst I enjoyed this one a lot my favourite would still be The Girl on the Cliff which had more of an emotional impact on me. ( )

Well worth reading about WWII and the French Resistance, The Lavender Garden was extremely enjoyable. ( )

A wonderful book that kept me up almost all night a couple of times because I had to read "just one more chapter". ( )

http://www.girllostinabook.com/2014/08/review-lavender-garden-by-lucinda-riley.h... ( )

Originally published as The Lavender Garden.

This is the second book by Lucinda Riley that I have read and I enjoyed this one more than Hothouse Flower (U.S. title The Orchid House). This is another split-time novel, part of which is again set during WWII.

In 1943, Constance Carruthers, with her husband missing in action, trains to become an agent for the Special Operations Executive. Her plans to make a difference behind the scenes are shattered when her contacts fail and she finds herself living an alias in the mansion of Edouard de la Marinieres and his sister, Sophie. He is leading a double life and she must play along in the charade.

The present day story involves Emilie de la Marinieres, who has travelled to France to sort out the mansion she inherited on her mother's death. She must decide whether to sell it to pay her mother's debts, or find some other way out of the mess she finds herself in. Enter a knight in shining armour, in the person of Stephen Carruthers, an art expert who offers to help her find buyers for the art works.

You will already have spotted the similar names and Ms Riley weaves a complicated story around these four characters and their connections. There is also a fifth character who plays a significant part, Stephen's house-bound brother in Scotland.

A well written novel with excellent characters that dropped a star because I found Emilie just a bit too pathetic and gullible, Otherwise, well worth the read. ( )

The Lavender Garden is a touching and interesting story of two families coming together, in the past and semi-present, with heroics in one generation and a mystery in the other. We go back and forth from the present to the past in alternating sections, watching Emilie’s journey of growing up as she learns about the activities of her family in France during World War II. Despite being from an important family, Emilie doesn’t know much about her history, and it turns out, herself either.
Constance, on the other hand, is caught up in the war, separated from her husband and sent off to a foreign country on a very dangerous mission. Almost as soon as she makes it into France, she meets Edouard de la Martinieres, and while her mission is taken off course, her desire to fight for her country and end the war stay with her. Connie is an amazing woman, the sort I wish I knew and had the opportunity to be friends with at some point in my life.
I spent much of the novel wanting to shake some sense into Emilie – whether it’s that I’ve seen too many movies, or I’m just not as trusting of a person as she is, I felt like I could see trouble coming for her and I couldn’t do anything about it. She is pretty naive at the beginning of the novel, and I couldn’t help but be frustrated as I read some of what she was going through.
Consequently, the flash back segments set during the war were much more interesting to me. I felt like I was able to get a reasonably realistic view into the war in Europe – or realistic for me, at least. Although I know that WWII occurred, and who the major players were, I feel relatively separated from it, both by generation and locale. The danger these characters were in was so palpable, I felt at times that I was in an air raid, at risk in a safe house, or stuck in a cellar somewhere. These scenes were all beautiful, heartbreaking, and I wish there had been more of them.
At the end of it all, while I didn’t want to participate in Emilie’s life much, I do want to read more novels about this time period in Europe, as well as visit a vineyard or five in France. ( )

Gerri Halligan has a lovely speaking voice and is a pleasant narrator. The trouble with the audiobook version lies in her performance of the various characters. She struggles differentiating between the various female characters, and her male character voices are even worse. As she attempts to change accents, the end result is something grating to the ears. Also, her performance is too overt. She is too obvious in certain characteristics of the characters to make the truth anything but a surprise. This is made worse by the fact that the story already suffers from predictability. Having switched to the print version halfway through the story, all of the obvious clues noticeably disappear, confirming that Ms. Halligan used her performance to give away too many secrets way too early. It is a rocky and disappointing audio performance.

Just as The Lavender Garden, as performed by Ms. Halligan, is not the best example of an audiobook experience, the print story has similar faults. As mentioned earlier, it too experiences problems with the obvious path of the story. Emilie’s modern-day discoveries are anything but a surprise, and the World War II scenes are only marginally better. In addition, Ms. Riley poorly executes the time period narrative shifts, making them too abrupt. The two sections do not flow together well at all, disrupting the pacing and the tonality of the overall story.

The characters are another example of poor execution. Emilie is annoying. For a professional living on her own in a large city, she is remarkably naïve with a lack of business savvy that is appalling. Her willingness to let someone else handle her family’s estate is similarly disturbing and does not coincide with a woman who just wants to go back to her independent lifestyle. While Emilie does show personal growth throughout the story, it comes too late to be anything but a convenient plot device. While Emilie will frustrate readers, Constance leaves readers flat. Her story evokes none of the emotions Ms. Riley intends, and it is disinterest with which a reader follows her path from British soil to the south of France. Her responses to certain crises are irrational, hysterical over small scenes and utterly void of emotion over others which should have her raging. Just like Emilie, she capitulates too quickly to others’ suggestions and fails to confirm her independent status that should naturally fit someone so capable.

The saving grace for The Lavender Garden is the physical descriptions. This is due more to the picturesque locale of southern France than Ms. Riley’s writing. A historical chateau in the vibrant lushness of the French countryside is going to awe any reader and establish a certain vibe. Unfortunately, Ms. Riley uses the story’s settings to provide further clues to the plot’s resolution, as the disparateness of Emilie’s family chateau versus Sebastian’s ancestral home are too obvious to be anything other than another plot device. The vibe one gets from each location is a deliberate element of the story that drives Emilie towards an inevitable path that leaves no surprises.

The Lavender Garden is truly disappointing regardless of medium used to experience it. One wants the story to be more mysterious and twisty than it is, just as one wants the two heroines to be stronger and more self-sufficient than they actually are. There is an inherent charm about the la Martinières’ home that soothes some of the rougher edges but is not enough to overcome the story’s weaknesses. The Lavender Garden is pleasant enough but ultimately unsatisfactory.

I love this story and thoroughly recommend it. A heartwarming tale divided between life in France in 1943 and the present time. I was wondering how it would end up until the very last minute. I think it is wonderfully written and I am off to find out more Riley's books. ( )

Castles, hidden rooms, families, World War II, and history coming alive as past and present blend together for an incredible, marvelously detailed read.

Emilie de la Martinieres is the sole surviving member of her family and is left with a chateau with vineyards and another home in Paris. Both homes are filled with memories and contents worth millions. But, the millions won't be Emile's because of the debt her mother mounted over the years. Emilie needs to decide if she should sell or keep the chateau. She never had to deal with finances and was doing it alone until a complete stranger, Sebastian, came on the scene.

Sebastian's family had some connection to Emilie's chateau and vineyard, and the winemakers on the estate knew what that connection was. The account of the important family connection is revealed through Constance's life during WWII and her connection to the de la Martinieries' family. But, did Sebastian suddenly appear and help Emilie because of the family connection or because he was interested in the valuable paintings inside her estates and most of all her family inheritance?

THE LAVENDER GARDEN moves back and forth from current day to WWII making a beautiful story even more enticing. The WWII details were fascinating and very well researched.

The detailed descriptions of the castle, the French society during WWII, the hint of mystery about the de la Martinieries' history, and the current-day love story make this book another amazing, mesmerizing, and fantastic Lucinda Riley novel.

THE LAVENDER GARDEN had wonderful characters that were believable as well as characters that you would want to share a day with. Being in a beautiful chateau with a vineyard, being in Paris and a small French village, being in an English castle, and being with characters you definitely will bond with made the book even more appealing.

This is by far my favorite Lucinda Riley book. I loved her detail about the French and English countryside and absolutely loved the specifics of the ancestry of Emilee's family. Digging into a family's history is my favorite historical thing to do. The ending is wonderful.

I hope you get to read it. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review. ( )

This is my third book by Ms. Riley and I was quite excited to be offered it for review. I very much enjoyed the first two of her books that I read, The Orchid House and The Girl on the Cliff. This book moves back and forth in time between WWII occupied France and England and 1998 France as a young woman, the last of a very long line of French nobility comes to grips with her history.

WWII (and WWI) novels are quite the rage right now and that is probably a good thing as the people who lived through that time are passing and if the horrors of age are not remembered they will be repeated. I suspect that much like I was not taught much about the Civil War in school, today's students are not taught much about the World Wars. They are ancient history to this generation of kids. They don't have grandfathers who tell stories of the battles. Their grandfathers fought in Korea or Viet Nam or perhaps not at all.

Emilie is not, at least at first, the most compelling of heroines. It took me a bit to warm up to her but once I did I found myself quite engrossed in the story. She knew nothing of her family's history nor of herself. She was a child of a self centered mother and a distant father. What she learned and how she learned it changed her and made her stronger.

Ms. Riley is brilliant at weaving history into her characters' lives without making her reader feel as if she is in a classroom. She sets a scene beautifully and when lost in the writing the reader can almost believe they are there too. This book was a bit slow in the beginning for me so I didn't like it as much as the others I've read from Ms. Riley but once it started into the backstory I was hooked. ( )

At the beginning of the book I felt that it jumped around a bit and was a little irritating having Emilie act so careless about her finances. Also she was just plain annoying in general. I was half tempted to give the story up if Emilie was the sole focus of the book. Luckily the book jumps back and forth from Emilie in 1999 to Constance in 1944. The story follows Constance aka Connie as she trains to be SOE and goes undercover in France. She was so refreshing and I took to her from the very beginning. I found myself really wanting to know about her and how she was tied into Emilie’s family. As I followed Connie's story I start to like Emilie's part a little more not much more but a little. The story is a bit predictable and you sort of knew what was going to happen but it was nicely written and I was able to get sucked in to the book. Overall I liked it. I think I would have liked it a lot more if I liked Emilie better. I just couldn’t find much to like about her. ( )

Christmas gift from my mother. Not the worst of the genre that I've read but it didn't really sing to me.I guessed some of the twists from fairly early on and was proven pretty right all the way.

The story is split between two times, present and past and the past involves a young beautiful SOE operative who finds herself in Paris during World War II, in the house of a man playing a deadly game of secrets and lies with the Nazis. She has to play the games to stay alive and try to keep herself from betraying everyone.

The other story, which also serves as the framing device is set in the present, Emile de la Martinieres, a vet who inherits her family chateau in the south of France and stumbles her way through love and deception to unravel the story of Sophia who is one of the generation from World War II. Along the way she finds herself drawn to two brothers from England, one of whom she marries.

I found it readable and don't regret reading it but it didn't leave me wanting to find more by this author. The twists were heavily flagged and several of the characters seemed to be to shallow and incapable of acting for themselves, while being described as strong people. ( )