The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley

Castles, hidden rooms, families, World War II, and history coming alive as past and present blend together for an incredible, marvelously detailed read.  
 
Emilie de la Martinieres is the sole surviving member of her family and is left with a chateau with vineyards and another home in Paris.  Both homes are filled with memories and contents worth millions. But, the millions won't be Emile's because of the debt her mother mounted over the years. Emilie needs to decide if she should sell or keep the chateau. She never had to deal with finances and was doing it alone until a complete stranger, Sebastian, came on the scene.

Sebastian's family had some connection to Emilie's chateau and vineyard, and the winemakers on the estate knew what that connection was.  The account of the important family connection is revealed through Constance's life during WWII and her connection to the de la Martinieries' family.  But, did Sebastian suddenly appear and help Emilie because of the family connection or because he was interested in the valuable paintings inside her estates and most of all her family inheritance?

THE LAVENDER GARDEN moves back and forth from current day to WWII making a beautiful story even more enticing.  The WWII details were fascinating and very well researched.

The detailed descriptions of the castle, the French society during WWII, the hint of mystery about the de la Martinieries' history, and the current-day love story make this book another amazing, mesmerizing, and fantastic Lucinda Riley novel. 
 
THE LAVENDER GARDEN had wonderful characters that were believable as well as characters that you would want to share a day with.  Being in a beautiful chateau with a vineyard, being in Paris and a small French village, being in an English castle, and being with characters you definitely will bond with made the book even more appealing. 

This is by far my favorite Lucinda Riley book.  I loved her detail about the French and English countryside and absolutely loved the specifics of the ancestry of Emilee's family.  Digging into a family's history is my favorite historical thing to do.  The ending is wonderful.

I hope you get to read it.  5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.