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    Flowers of Darkness: A Novel
    Flowers of Darkness: A Novel
    Flowers of Darkness: A Novel
    Ebook300 pages5 hours

    Flowers of Darkness: A Novel

    By Tatiana de Rosnay

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    From the internationally bestselling author of Sarah's Key comes Tatiana de Rosnay's Flowers of Darkness, a riveting and emotionally intense novel, set in a near future Paris, where a woman confronts past betrayal and present mystery

    Author Clarissa Katsef is struggling to write her next book. She’s just snagged a brand new artist residency in an ultra-modern apartment, with a view of all of Paris, a dream for any novelist in search of tranquility. But since moving in, she has had the feeling of being watched. Is there reason to be paranoid? Or is her distraction and discomfort the result of her husband’s recent shocking betrayal? Or is that her beloved Paris lies altered outside her windows? A city that will never be quite the same, a city with a scar at its center?

    Stuck inside, in the midst of a sweltering heat wave, Clarissa enlists her beloved granddaughter in her investigation of the mysterious, high tech building even as she finds herself drawn back into the orbit of her first husband who is still the one who knows her most intimately, who shares the past grief that she has never quite let go.

    Staying true to her favorite themes—the imprint of the place, the weight of secrets—de Rosnay weaves an intrigue of thrilling suspense and emotional power.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateFeb 23, 2021
    ISBN9781250272904
    Author

    Tatiana de Rosnay

    Tatiana de Rosnay is the author of eleven novels, including the New York Times bestselling novel Sarah’s Key, an international bestselling sensation with over two million copies sold in thirty-five countries worldwide. Together with Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, and Stieg Larsson, she was named one of the top ten fiction writers in Europe in 2009. Tatiana lives with her husband and two children in Paris. Visit her online at www.tatianaderosnay.com

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    Reviews for Flowers of Darkness

    3.5/5

    30 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A fascinating tale in near-future Paris, de Rosnay brings the sense of place and atmosphere that she’s known for in spades. I was utterly fascinated with this Paris of the future and in unraveling the multiple mysteries layered throughout the novel.

      I was particularly absorbed by how this novel is so much like, and also yet so different from one of my favorite novels, de Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key. While Sarah’s Key takes us back to Paris of World War II, Flowers of Darkness takes us about 15-20 years into the City of Light to come, as de Rosnay envisions it.

      It is a world where an unnamed catastrophic event has decimated the city, as well as other national capitals, not to mention the decimation of the Earth’s climate due to global warming. Yet, the main crux of the story centers around a mystery for the reader, as to why main character Clarissa recently left her husband of 20 years, along with a riddle that Clarissa is trying to solve for herself.

      If I had a complaint about this tale, it would be that while intriguing, I didn’t feel like the story wrapped up all the loose ends by the conclusion; and the imaginative future that pulled me through the story with ease, didn’t wrap-up with an obvious lesson for the reader.

      Yet, de Rosnay is an excellent novelist, who writes finely crafted and compelling prose that makes you think, and for that I do recommend Flowers of Darkness for anyone who enjoys a bit of spooky suspense or a touch of a post-apocalyptic future.

      A big thank you to Tatiana de Rosnay, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for this honest review.

      Tatiana de Rosnay is the author of over ten novels, including the New York Times bestseller Sarah's Key, which has sold over 11 million copies in 44 countries worldwide. Together with Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, and Stieg Larsson, she has been named one of the top ten fiction writers in Europe.

      Flowers of Darkness is available February 23, 2021 in Hardcover, Audio CD, Audible Audiobook, and for Kindle. Please consider buying from BookShop.org, the online bookstore that has donated over $8 million to independent bookstores since starting operation in early 2020.

      #FlowersOfDarkness
      #TatianaDeRosnay
      #StMartinsPress
      #NetGalley
      #GeneralFiction
      #WomensFiction
    • 3/5
      Strange story with no ending. It just stops! Nothing resolved or explained.
    • 3/5
      Set in the future with climate change causing uncomfortably warm temperatures and technology taking over, de Rosnay looks at what happens if technology is used for evil rather than good. Filled with long paragraphs and the slow disclosure of Clarissa’ past, I found the book hard going. Dark, futurist books aren’t my favorite to begin with. If you are looking for Tatiana de Rosnay’s historical novel, you be disappointed here.
    • 3/5
      Flowers of Darkness seems to be two stories rolled into one, with both centering around grief and devastating life changes.Clarissa, a writer and grandmother, has left her second husband rather abruptly and goes in search of a safe haven in which to live and do her writing. One of Clarissa’s fascinations is places and their influence on people, so when she discovers CASA, a new apartment building exclusively for creative types, such as writers, artists and the like, she feels as if she may have found the perfect place.Against her better judgment, she rushes to sign up and ignores some red flags along the way. The apartment furnishes her with vitamins and does a weekly health scan. They also film the residents. It’s a bit futuristic, but this is set in the future after Paris was hit with some drone strikes. After a few weeks of this, Clarissa is feeling creeped out about the place. That feeling is exacerbated when one of her new resident friends suddenly disappears. While all this is going on, readers are let into the personal background of Clarissa, which centers on the loss of a child and her recent marital separation. The loss of the child was a situation that we’ve know through the ages, but the details centering around her recent separation was definitely one that belongs to the futuristic world.I really liked the story, but would have liked to have seen some things resolved prior to the ending. I also felt as if the apartment community atmosphere would have made a great story on it’s own.Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I’m happy to give my honest review.
    • 4/5
      Set in a future Paris where terrorists have bombed the Eiffel Tower, this novel's focus is Clarissa, an author undergoing seismic changes in her life. After leaving her second husband for reasons that are gradually revealed by her journal entries interspersed throughout, Clarissa is pleased to be accepted for a condo in a building exclusively inhabited by artists. As she spends more time in her lovely new apartment, Clarissa becomes suspicious of her automated personal assistant and the cameras recording all of her movements and conversations. When she becomes increasingly creeped out and depressed, her sanity is questioned by her daughter and father, and suspense builds around the ultimate outcome for Clarissa. The strength of this novel is in the relationships described, as well as the future possibilities of artificial intelligence and climate change. However, readers looking for a tidy resolution may be disappointed.
    • 4/5
      Flowers of Darkness is a novel set in Paris - not the Paris that we know but a future Paris where terrorists have destroyed the Eiffel Tower. Paris is very different now as is most of Europe due to terrorist destruction of Big Ben in London, the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Sistine Chapel. Yet people's lives, though changed continue to go on with many of the same problems.Clarissa, a 50ish writer, has just left her second husband and is looking for somewhere to live. She is excited to be accepted by CASA, a brand new artist residency in an ultra-modern apartment, with a view of all of Paris. In her new apartment, Clarissa has a virtual personal assistant to take care of her and the promised tranquility to write her new book. However, she begins to feel that something is wrong with the apartment as she hears strange noises and begins to feel that she is being watched all the time. Interspersed with Clarissa's plan to find out what is really going on in the apartment two other main factors in her life come to light - the story of how Clarissa's husband betrayed her and her beautiful relationship with her daughter, Jordan and her 15 year old grand-daughter, Andy.The novel is beautifully written and the story comes to light very slowly - almost dreamlike as it unfolds. The main character is well written and we feel all of her pain and sadness with her life after leaving her husband. The main theme of the novel is artificial intelligence and how it can and will change our lives in the future and affect something precious to all of us -- our privacy.

    Book preview

    Flowers of Darkness - Tatiana de Rosnay

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