Spirit of Lost Angels by Liza Perrat

 

First the twin children were burned in the house fire and now papa was run down by a nobleman's carriage.  What else could happen to the Charpentier family?  A lot could and did happen in this small town of Lucie-sur-Vionne, France; a town with many strange customs such as these: you can't conduct business on Fridays, you can't dig a grave, you can't wash clothes, and you can’t give birth?  Now the not giving birth definitely had to be a challenge...can babies really wait?

Madame Charpentier, whose duty as a midwife became questionable was claimed a witch and drowned by the town leaders. She left her two remaining children to fend for themselves....Victoire and Gregoire.  Victoire was forced to become a servant in the household of a noble in Paris while her brother remained in Lucie.  She did not want to leave her brother, and of course Paris was not the place she wanted to be.....away from her family and at the mercy of her employer.  Luckily circumstances in Lucie changed, and Victoire returned to marry.

The book took place during an interesting time period in history.  You will follow Victoire through her life during and after she returned to Lucie...both the good and the bad.  She had something happen to her when she was a scullery maid, and she now wanted justice for the commoners to make the nobles pay for taking advantage of them.  You will follow Victiore and her accomplice as they work together to bring this justice to fruition and cause a revolution for commoners' rights. 

You will learn quite a lot about France in the 1700’s in terms of the family life, the laws, the treatment of women, the treatment of the commoners, and the living conditions of the lower class, and the superiority of the nobles.  You will be interested simply because of how well written and detailed the book is as the author clearly outlines the path of a commoner's life and the hardship of Victoire's life from childhood to adulthood.....very intriguing.  

The book was very well researched, and your interest will not wane even during the discussions about the revolutions since Victoire and her antics are at the heart of it all. There is even a surprise person who came on the scene…a well known person, but nevertheless a surprise.  It is an historical book about enduring, accepting, regret, love, loss, family, hope, coming home, and an angel pendant that held it all together for each of the women who wore it.   5/5

I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.