The French Gift

September 20, 2021
Manning returns (after The Lost Jewels) with a twisty WWII yarn about two imprisoned French women forced into slave labor at a German rayon factory. Blending two timelines, the story begins at a 1939 high-society, Gatsby-style party on the Riviera, where maid Margot Bisset is pressed by the hostess to fake a murder for the guests’ entertainment. It was a setup, and when the victim dies, innocent Margot is sent to prison; her cellmate is Resistance writer Josephine Murant, a political prisoner. Under Nazi occupation, they are transferred in 1942 to Germany’s gruesome Phrix Rayon Factory, notorious for its workers being maimed and killed. In present-day Paris, widowed Evie Black is contacted by historian Clement Tazi for help with a retrospective on Evie’s recently deceased great-aunt by marriage, Josephine. When Josephine’s hidden manuscript and diary are found, Evie and Clement piece together Margot’s and Josephine’s four years together, and Manning provides a grim account of the rayon factory. Manning’s multilayered story is both terrifying and triumphant. Her talent for a surprising twist makes this story a must for her fans. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writer’s House.

November 5, 2021

Margot serves as a maid at Villa Sanary, a luxurious vacation home on the French Riviera, where an American heiress has been murdered on Bastille Day in 1939. Framed for the murder, Margot is sent to prison, where she meets Jos�phine, who was captured by the Gestapo for her resistance efforts. Both are convicted and sent to a labor camp in Germany, where their friendship helps them get through the horrors of their imprisonment and debilitating work. In the present, Evie and her teenage son Hugo are visiting Villa Sanary, which Evie and her husband inherited from his beloved aunt Jos�phine, who became a famous crime novelist after being freed at the end of the war. Now widowed, Evie is tasked with going through Jos�phine's papers and helping Dr. Cl�ment Tazi curate a museum exhibition about Jos�phine. Hoping to find a rumored unpublished manuscript, they soon discover further mysteries when they uncover Jos�phine's wartime diary. VERDICT Manning's (The Lost Jewels) lush, moving novel connects the past with the present and describes the scents and tastes of France as it tells the intertwined stories of three smart, strong women.--Melissa DeWild, Comstock Park, MI

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2021
When a retrospective exhibit highlighting the many achievements of reclusive French author Jos�phine Murant is planned, Evie is drawn into the mystery of Jos�phine's life much more intensely than she expected. Only recently emerged from a fog of grief after the death of her husband, Jos�phine's nephew Raph, Evie is surprised to feel such an innate closeness to a woman she only knew through marriage. A botanical illustrator, Evie sees the magic in uncovering authorial intent and the raw emotion in every draft of a manuscript. As Evie helps the accomplished and surprisingly handsome curator hunt down materials for the exhibit, she feels a flutter of romance she thought had died with Raph. Manning (The Lost Jewels, 2020) intertwines Evie's and Jos�phine's stories by jumping between present-day France, the Occupation of Paris, and the horrors of wartime prison labor in a rayon factory. Manning builds on the plot's complexity by adding a wrongfully accused servant's story to the mix. Fans of Lucinda Riley, Marisa de los Santos, and Paula McLain will adore Manning's nuanced and clear-eyed exploration of passion and sacrifice.

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