Fresh Water for Flowers

· Europa Editions
12 reviews
Ebook
480
Pages
Eligible
81% price drop on Oct 26

About this ebook

An eccentric young caretaker brings exuberant life to a smalltown French cemetery in this #1 international bestselling novel: "Enchanting" ( Publishers Weekly).
Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne, France. Traversing the grounds by unicycle, tending to her many gardens—and being present for the intimate, often humorous confidences of visitors—Violette's life follows the predictable rhythms of mourning. But then Violette's routine is disrupted by the arrival of Julien Sole, the local police chief.
Julien has come to scatter the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger. It soon becomes clear that Julien's inexplicable gesture is intertwined with Violette's own complicated past.
"Melancholic and yet ebullient . . . An appealing indulgence in nature, food and drink, and, above all, friendships." — The Guardian, UK
An eccentric young caretaker brings exuberant life to a smalltown French cemetery in this #1 international bestselling novel: "Enchanting" ( Publishers Weekly). Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne, France. Traversing the grounds by unicycle, tending to ...

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Ratings and reviews

12 reviews
Crissie Bell
January 18, 2026
brilliant
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About the author

Valérie Perrin was born in 1967 in Remiremont, in the Vosges Mountains, France. She grew up in Burgundy and settled in Paris in 1986. Her novel The Forgotten Sunday (2015) won the Booksellers Choice Award and the paperback edition has been long-selling best-seller since publication. Her English-language debut, Fresh Water for Flowers (Europa, 2020) won the Maison de la Presse Prize, the Paperback Readers Prize, and was named a 2020 ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next List title. It has been translated into over thirty languages. Figaro Littéraire named Perrin one of the ten best-selling authors in France in 2019, and in Italy, Fresh Water for Flowers was the best selling book of 2020. Perrin now lives in Normandy

Valérie Perrin was born in 1967 in Remiremont, in the Vosges Mountains, France. She grew up in Burgundy and settled in Paris in 1986. Her novel The Forgotten Sunday (2015) won the Booksellers Choice Award and the paperback edition has been long-selling best-seller since publication. Her English-l...

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