“Čitanje ju je oslobodilo. Kao da je u nju konačno ušla neka svjetlost, i sada izbija iz svih pora njezine kože. Kreće se poput žene koja je poslije jako duge zime napokon odjenula lepršavu haljinu.”
Justine živi sa bakom, djedom i bratićem Julesom u Millyju, selu u Burgundiji od kada su im roditelji poginuli. Radi kao njegovateljica u domu za starije osobe Hortenzije. Uživa u društvu starijih te se trudi svakome od njih posvetiti svoje vrijeme.
Hélene, starica na pragu stote, svojim pričama iz prošlosti privlači pažnju Justine te ona odlučuje zapisati njezinu životnu priču. Suočena sa tajnama prošlosti Hélene, Justine počinje otkrivati i vlastite obiteljske tajne…
“Hélène mi je ispričala cijeli svoj život. Baš sve, ali u fragmentima, kao slagalicu. Kao da mi je željela darovati najdragocjeniji predmet u svom domu, ali joj se prethodno razbio na tisuće komadića.”
Predivna emotivna priča o trećoj dobi, o onima koje je život polako zaboravio, o prijateljstvu i obiteljskim tajnama, o prošlosti, ali i sadašnjosti. Kao i u prethodne dvije knjige Valerie Perrin, i u ovoj sam se izgubila u motivima, u Francuskoj, u likovima, sanjala sa likovima, tugovala i radovala se.
I iako su njezine knjige emotivne i tužne, zanimljivo je da se ne osjećam potpuno uništeno nakon čitanja. Perrin uspijeva u svakoj provući tračak nade, ugodu i sitne tragove sreće. I zbog toga uvijek želim još, još Perrin, još njezinih likova i njihovih trauma, ali i njihove sreće.
Predivno i vrlo vješto isprepletene priče različitih vremenskih razdoblja podjednako su me zanimale i izazivale promišljanja o životu i odlukama koje donosimo. Perrin je bez konkurencije autorica čije priče žive u mojoj glavi i srcu dugo nakon posljednje stranice.
Od mene ogromna preporuka!
“Nebo je bilo sivo i oblačno. Bila je jesen i Lucien je upravo preminuo. Sunce će odsad izlaziti samo za druge, pomislila je.”
[english]
Forgotten On Sunday – Valérie Perrin
“Reading has unlocked her. As if daylight were finally penetrating her and then seeping out through every pore of her skin. She moves like a woman who is, at last, wearing floaty dresses after a very, very long winter.”
Justine has been living with her grandparents and cousin Jules in Milly, a village in Burgundy since their parents died. She works as a nursing assistant at a Hortensie retirement home. She enjoys the company of the elderly and tries to dedicate her time to each of them.
Hélène, an old woman on the verge of a hundred, attracts Justine’s attention with her stories from the past, and she decides to write down her life story. Faced with the secrets of Hélène’s past, Justine also begins to discover her own family secrets…
“Hélène told me her whole life. But in jigsaw-puzzle form. As if she’d given me the finest object in her home but had broken it into a thousand pieces first, without meaning to.”
A wonderful emotional story about the third age, about those whom life has slowly forgotten, about friendship and family secrets, about the past, but also the present. As in the previous two books by Valerie Perrin, in this one I got lost in the motifs, in France, in the characters, dreamed with the characters, grieved and rejoiced.
And although her books are emotional and sad, it is interesting that I do not feel completely destroyed after reading them. Perrin manages to find a glimmer of hope, comfort and small traces of happiness in each one. And that’s why I always want more, more Perrin, more of her characters and their traumas, but also their happiness.
The beautifully and very skillfully intertwined stories from different time periods equally interested me and provoked reflections on life and the decisions we make. Perrin is an author without competition whose stories live in my head and heart long after the last page.
A huge recommendation from me and a big thanks to the publisher @sonatina for sending me a copy
I hope the next one arrives soon!
