The Rain Watcher by @TatianaDeRosnay ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

I will start with the tree. Because everything begins, and ends, with the tree. The tree is the tallest one. It was planted way before the others. I’m not sure how old it is, exactly. Perhaps three or four hundred years old. It is ancient and powerful. It has weathered terrible storms, braced against unbridled winds. It is not afraid.

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October 2018; St. Martin's Press; 978-1250200013
audio, ebook, print (240 pages); literary

I am normally a very fast reader but I read this book slowly so that I could savor every word and marvel at the way the family secrets were brought to the light. I love Paris and felt like I had taken a wet and rainy mini-vacation after I finished it. I loved the family and they are not characters that I'll soon forget.

The Malegarde family is meeting in Paris to celebrate Paul's 70th birthday and the anniversary of Paul and Lauren. They both traveled to Paris from the Drome Valley to spend the weekend with their two children - Tilia who is an artist and lives in London with her second husband in a rocky marriage and Linden who lives in San Francisco with his boyfriend. Linden is a world-renowned photographer who sees the world best through the eye of a camera. When the family all arrives in Paris, it has been raining for days but as the rain continues, the Seine begins to rise to levels not seen since the flood of 1910 and the city begins to flood and shut down. In the midst of the devastation in Paris, Paul suffers a stroke and is taken to the hospital and Lauren is stricken with pneumonia. This is a family who loves each other but doesn't really understand each other. They are hiding secrets and resentments from each other. As they get cut off from the rest of the world in the floods, their secrets start to come to light as they learn more about the other family members.

This is a beautifully written novel about the devastation of Paris in a flood and the flood of feeling that this family must release to better understand each other. It will make you miss Paris if you've ever been there or make you want to make plans for a trip to Paris. I LOVED IT!

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Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.

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