The first new novel in four years from the beloved superstar author of Sarah’s Key, a heartbreaking and uplifting story of family secrets and devastating disaster, set against a Paris backdrop, fraught with revelations, and resolutions. “An absorbing tale of family secrets from the author of Sarah’s Key.” – People magazine “Hypnotic, passionate, ominous and tender–unforgettable.” –Jenna Blum, … ominous and tender–unforgettable.” –Jenna Blum, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Those Who Save Us
Linden Malegarde has come home to Paris from the United States. It has been years since the whole family was all together. Now the Malegarde family is gathering for Paul, Linden’s father’s 70th birthday.
Each member of the Malegarde family is on edge, holding their breath, afraid one wrong move will shatter their delicate harmony. Paul, the quiet patriarch, an internationally-renowned arborist obsessed with his trees and little else, has always had an uneasy relationship with his son. Lauren, his American wife, is determined that the weekend celebration will be a success. Tilia, Linden’s blunt older sister, projects an air of false fulfillment. And Linden himself, the youngest, uncomfortable in his own skin, never quite at home no matter where he lives–an American in France and a Frenchman in the U.S.–still fears that, despite his hard-won success as a celebrated photographer, he will always be a disappointment to his parents.
Their hidden fears and secrets slowly unravel as the City of Light undergoes a stunning natural disaster, and the Seine bursts its banks and floods the city. All members of the family will have to fight to keep their unity against tragic circumstances. In this profound and intense novel of love and redemption, de Rosnay demonstrates all of her writer’s skills both as an incredible storyteller but also as a soul seeker.
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A ceaseless rain, a brother, a sister, a birthday, a tree―seemingly ordinary things. But Tatiana de Rosnay’s expert storytelling proves that within life’s ordinary is the power for extraordinary change. A bonfire begins with a spark. A flood with a single drop. In similar fashion, The Rain Watcher will leave you spellbound, transformed, and swept away.
The Rain Watcher is a poignant and moving story of a family in crisis. As flood waters rise in Paris, the men and women of the Malegarde clan struggle not to drown under the weight of their own secrets. Through her tender rendering of her characters, Tatiana de Rosnay demonstrates that―in spite of our burdens and our brokenness―redemption and healing are within our grasp.
I didn’t read Sarah’s Key, but I had heard praise enough that when I saw the author had a new book out, I thought I’d give it a try. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t as quiet a novel as this.
The Rain Watcher is a family drama, telling the story of mother, father, daughter, and son, gathered for a family reunion to celebrate the father’s 70th birthday. Each of these four family members has a life hidden from the others; those secrets and fears are little by little exposed. There is no great mystery, no great intrigue, no great emotional twist. Revelations are more sympathetically-rendered than unexpected. But I did care about the characters, so listenedon and on. At no point was I drawn to tears. Nor did I understand the ending. Or the title. I’m sorry. Maybe someone can explain either of those to me?
And yet I’ve given this book four stars – because it is beautifully written. The setting is contemporary Paris at a time of unprecedented rainfall that results in catastrophic flooding, and the description of this is exquisite. The author has an amazing imagination and a masterful way with words. The reader can see, smell, feel Paris as the water rises higher and higher – can see, smell, feel the angst of each of the characters. Even cameo characters are described in a simple but picturesque way.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was a delight.
That said, for me The Rain Watcher is about the journey, rather than the destination.
I was mesmerized by Tatiana de Rosnay’s new novel across the ocean and back―don’t bring this book on a plane with you if you want to sleep! The Rain Watcher has something for everyone: an all-too-fathomable disaster story of the Seine swamping Paris; a family story about confronting lifelong secrets; a cautionary tale and love letter to our natural world, all told with de Rosnay’s superlative sophistication and elegance. Hypnotic, passionate, ominous and tender―The Rain Watcher is unforgettable.
i thought it was a great book and i totally recommend it. at the end when they said the dad died and they read the letters out loud (long story, anyway the box of letters had been stuck in the lime tree (the linden) for who knows long) I just started crying and i couldn’t stop for like five minutes until my mom came in. I tried to explain it to her but she didn’t get it. I am telling you, you need to read the book it was sooooooo good!I skiped over a couple parts but overall it was an awesome book!!!!!!!
The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
October 24, 2018
St Martins Press
Fiction
I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and St Martins Press in exchange for an unbiased review.
This is the story about the complicated relationships within a family. Linden Malegard, born in France, but living in California with his partner, Sacha, travels to Paris for a family reunion. Unbeknownst to his family, they arrive during a rain storm with devastating effects. A reoccurrence of the Seine overflowing and flooding the city back in 1910 is feared by all residents.
It seems an unlikely turn of events results in the family being grounded in Paris. The celebration of his parents’ anniversary and father’s birthday become overshadowed by the natural disaster and the declining health of his parents. The reunion in France lasts longer than any of them expected which allows time for them to reminisce and confront issues ignored over the years.
As much as I enjoyed the descriptive aspects of the characters and France, the story felt more “passive” in the sense it was told primarily from Linden’s POV. He is a reflective and somber character who reflects the dank and cloudy environment in which the story occurs. It’s not a “light” read but one with rich, complex characters who seem to be “weathering” their own storm.
https://www.edelweiss.plus/?sku=1250200016
This book was an easy read and I read it in a few hours. It had an unexpected twist and is simply a great book.
Linden is in Paris to celebrate his father’s birthday with just the family. Unfortunately, Paris is flooding at a rapid rate due to neverending rain and both parents get sick. As Linden tries to care for his father at the hospital he starts realizing he may not have much time left to bond with his father.
My feelings have run from I did not like the book at all (2 stars) to wow, what a powerful message (4 stars). After sitting here a couple of hours after finishing I have decided on a four-star review. I started this book thinking it was mainly about the flood and how it would bring the family together but it is about so much more. The moral I got out of the book is tragedy makes you see things you gloss over in life or refuse to see due to your own shortsightedness. Instead of assuming what others think or see about you, ask them. It is much better than letting the wrong thoughts fester for years. You may lose out on something remarkable being shortsighted.
There are no steamy sex scenes but there is a gay storyline. I don’t remember a lot of obscene language so if there is any it must be minimal and feel right for the story. Of course, tons of Paris landmarks are mentioned so allow yourself time to look them up if you are not familiar with them.
This was my first book by Tatiana de Rosnay and I have already bought Sarah’s Key to read soon.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.
A family has gathered in Paris to celebrate a birthday and an anniversary when it begins raining. I enjoyed the atmospheric mood of the rain throughout the story, with weather reports and predictions so typical of any weather situation. The family drama did not interest me that much. The patriarch’s life has been about trees, even naming his two children after trees. Later in the book, the significance of this connection with trees comes to light, giving it a satisfying ending.
A wonderful read that simply would not let go. Whenever I would have to put this book down, I would be thinking about it.
Rain has been falling in Paris for what seems like forever and the Seine is going to overflow its banks. Linden, his sister Tilia and his parents Paul and Lauren are meeting for a weekend in Paris as the flood threatens and finally occurs with a vengeance. Every member of this family has painful secrets and their revelations are precipitated by Paul’s suffering a stroke in the middle of their family weekend. Each character is fascinating and the story line itself is wonderful, except that the constant mention of the flooding becomes a bit redundant after awhile. I loved everything about this book except that at the very end a secret appears to be revealed by Paul to his family, but it is not clear what exactly the secret is. I think I know, but choose not to spoil it for other readers. I strongly recommend this book. It was exceptional good reading.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a review copy. This is my honest opinion.
The Rain Watcher was a deep, engrossing novel. I enjoyed the emotions that flowed through the story. The story is about Paul and Lauren, along with their grown children Linden and Tilia. They are all meeting in Paris to celebrate both Paul’s birthday and Paul and Lauren’s anniversary. What is supposed to be a nice stay together to reconnect soon becomes a sort of nightmare as events occur that turn their stay into a disappointment. Rain falls continually and threatens to bring the city of Paris to a dark standstill. Over the next few days everyone confronts the past, including their memories, emotions, and relationships. We get to know the son Linden the most and we only see pieces of the other characters. There are so many levels to this story. It is full of mystery, regrets, secrets, and pain. This was one of those books where I was upset to realize I had reached the last page. I flipped back through the pages again as I tried to put the story together again and resolve my feelings. But now as I write this review, new thoughts and understanding of the story have come to me.
This book was one that I could not wait to end. I love reading about Paris, but the details in the street names and the sites that used to be present was a little overwhelming and detracted from the story. While there are a lot of issues resolved throughout the pages, there was so much that wasn’t addressed. The book just couldn’t hold my interest. And then the last paragraph was a doozy. I just could not recommend this book to anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Disapointing
Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “The Rain Watcher” by Tatiana de Rosnay St. Martin’s Press October 30, 2018
Tatiana de Rosnay, Author of “The Rain Watcher” has written an intense, emotional, captivating, riveting, and intriguing novel. The setting for this story takes place in Paris, during a devastating rainfall and flooding of the Seine. The Genre for this story are Fiction. The author does an amazing job describing Paris, and the historical places of interest. The author does provide historical background of past flooding in Paris, and the destruction that it caused.
The author describes her dysfunctional cast of characters as complex and complicated.Each character has their own set of problems, and there are many secrets. This is a story of family coming together. Linden Malegarde, a famous photographer. has come to Paris from the United States to celebrate his Dad, Paul’s 70th birthday, and their parents anniversary. Paul has always been obsessed with trees. and is famous as an arborist. Paul has always felt safe by trees, and feels you can’t fight nature. This is a half American family and a half French family. Problems have occurred in the past with Linden and his sister because of this.
As the Seine continues to flood causing damage, and havoc, the Malegarde family finds themselves in a tragic set of circumstances. Will the family be able to unite and communicate before it is too late?
I would highly recommend this novel for those readers who enjoy an emotional story filled with conflict and natural disaster. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.
The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay is a perfectly lovely book about Linden Malegard a mid-thirties photographer with a reputation worldwide, who is meeting his parents and his sister in Paris to celebrate his father’s birthday and his parents’ anniversary. W meet these four people and learn their stories over a seek or so during which time Paris is having it’s worst flood in over 100 years. Because of his reputation, Linden gets photograph things many others could not. Because of this opportunity, Linden gets to visit places from his past that have helped define him today.
De Rosnay has, not only a way with words, but also an ability to dig into her subjects’ souls and bring out the very depth of them. Every child eventually deals with the knowledge their parents’ are aging and dying, but de Rosnay has managed to couch those feelings amongst many others for the member of this family, bring them to the conclusion of this part of their story. She does it beautifully and simply. The emotions are not complicated or shallow but touch the reader as a reflection of his own experience.
I could not recommend The Rain Watcher more highly. Its characters are lovingly drawn, and mostly through memories, develop the stories that have brought them together on this day. Life is varying degrees of good for the members of this family, just as in any family, and that is as it should be.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. #netgalley #therainwatcher
On the surface, it was a celebratory family gathering. The patriarch of the Malegarde family, Paul, was turning seventy; he and his wife Lauren had achieved 40 years of marriage. Their children Linden and Tilia were joining them in Paris, France.
Except…heavy continual rains had the Seine rising to a record flood stage. Paul, a world famous arborist, suffers a stroke while his wife falls ill. Their daughter Tilia still struggles with PTSD from a horrendous accident that killed her best friends and left her with a limp after reconstructive surgery. She is in a failed marriage to a drunk. Her daughter Mistral is her one bright happiness. And Linden, a world famous photographer, left home at age sixteen and can’t tell his father he is engaged to another man.
Each character has their secret pain which they must face during this devastating reunion, and which is revealed to each other by the end of the story, showing their growth and resilience.
Linden has to keep the family afloat, visiting his father in the hospital while Tilia tends to their mother. He explores the flooded streets with his professional peer Oriel, camera in hand. As he revisits places from his past, all the pain and regret returns to overwhelm him in a flood of memories. The apartment were he lived with his beloved aunt. Places where he spent happy hours with his first lover before they were brutally torn apart.
Nature’s destructive force is a constant presence in the novel, the rain and cold, people fleeing Paris and those who stay in cold and lightless apartments, all impotent to stop the advancing water.
And yet it was also nature, in the form of a lime tree, that saved the child Paul, informing all his choices and activities throughout his life, and giving his children their names.
The novel is a love song to Paris, and for those who know the city will feel agony as the floods overwhelm. The city has faced recent flooding, the worse in fifty years.
For all the emotional and natural chaos going on in the novel, I felt distant, the events not affecting me as strongly as I would have thought. I realized that the narrator tells readers what is happening when I would have liked scenes played out in action and dialogue. Readers are being told a story, a quite good story, much of which takes place in the internal lives of the characters. I liked the characters very much.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Linden wondered why his mother organized a family get together in Paris for his father’s 70th birthday since his father didn’t like Paris.
In addition to his dislike of Paris, Paris was having torrential rainfall with threats of flooding. The rain and flooding continued throughout their time in Paris and throughout the book with worries it would be as bad if not worse than the Paris floods of 1910.
THE RAIN WATCHER brings together this family of four from Venozan, London, and San Francisco – no spouses or children – just the four of them. We meet Linden from San Francisco who never got along with his father, Tilia from London who is unhappily married for the second time, and Paul and Lauren their parents.
All the characters seemed to have something to hide, but you warmed up to them as the book continued.
The children had grown up in Venozan after their parents met when Lauren was on a vacation in France more than 30 years ago. It was a whirlwind romance that had Lauren never going back to the states.
The family was still indifferent as always as they gathered together for breakfast and the rain continued to pour down. Lauren insisted they were in a non-flood area of Paris and should continue with their celebration plans.
Their celebration was wonderful until something tragic happened at the restaurant and Lauren became ill as well.
Besides being part of family issues and seeing how people interact, there was a lot of interesting information about photography. Linden was a famous photographer with a photo of his father taken years ago that made him famous. There is also wonderful information about plants and gardening and Paris.
THE RAIN WATCHER is beautifully written and pulls you into the story line with Ms. De Rosnay’s marvelous storytelling skills and details about every situation.
If you like rainstorms and family drama, this book will be of interest. 4/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NETGALLEY and in print in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I read The Rain Watcher during some of the rainiest days we’d had in Texas in a while. I curled up on the couch with a warm blanket, a warm beverage, a cat or two in my lap, and let the sound of the rain against the roof and windows transport me to Paris where the unrelenting rain is filling the Seine to catastrophic flood levels, threatening the Malegarde family’s gathering. Seen primarily through the eyes of Linden, a well-known photographer, this tale is carefully woven, unraveling the characters and the relationships that have made them who they are. While it took a few chapters for me to get used to Tatiana de Rosnay’s writing style, I quickly came to appreciate her ability to show things in detail without being verbose. I was completely drawn into this story, and I was sad when it ended.
Tatiana de Rosnay is one of my favorite authors. The Rain Watcher is not one of my favorite works by de Rosnay, mainly due to the dreariness of the setting and the troubled lives of the characters.
While I was reading this novel, it rained. It’s raining as I write this. I can tell you that de Rosnay did an excellent job creating the mood in Paris as the Seine River overflows its banks and parts of Paris become flooded. The rain is never-ending.
During this drenching ordeal, the Malegarde family gathers together to celebrate their father’s birthday and their parents wedding anniversary. Their weekend plans are drastically changed due to the weather and some unexpected health problems which trap the family in Paris and force them to face some relationship issues that were long buried.
I thought the setting and the writing were excellent. I was a bit confused as to why the story about Susanne was added and wondered why there wasn’t more clarification at the ending about that topic.
The story kept my interest, but the satisfaction I normally feel at the end of a book just wasn’t there this time around.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
The Malegarde family reunites in Paris for the father’s 70th birthday. The family has lots of secrets and are not a close family. The Siene river overflows and causes a terrible flooding situation and the family has to work together to try and survive. This is a story of family and the secrets that tear them apart. Also it is a story of a family’s love above all else. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. All opinions are my own.