The Secret of Jeanne

For seventeen years, Alex lived with a foreign version of her family's past. One call from a notary - and her familiar world collapsed like a house of cards. She believed her father had died a long time ago; it turned out he died today. But why did her mother need this lie?
The search for the truth leads Alex to her grandmother's house: to a bricked-up room, to a painting with a complex history, and to diaries not meant for foreign eyes. The more answers she finds, the clearer she understands: some secrets are kept not out of shame, but out of a desperate desire to protect loved ones.

Sophie Astrabi's new novel is a graceful restoration of a family portrait, on which the faces have been intentionally painted over. The writer weaves together the destinies of three women from different eras - from the gloomy pre-war Paris, through provincial France of the seventies to the present day. Thus, a saga of love is born, which turned out to be stronger than oblivion.